MONTVILLE — A Lincoln Park man who is not a U.S. citizen pleaded guilty today to distributing prescription drugs in Montville, and now faces being sentenced to probation and also probably would be deported. Abnor Ala, 25, pleaded guilty in Superior Court in Morristown to third-degree distribution of selling more than 100 tablets of the prescription painkiller Percocet to an...
MONTVILLE — A Lincoln Park man who is not a U.S. citizen pleaded guilty today to distributing prescription drugs in Montville, and now faces being sentenced to probation and also probably would be deported.
Abnor Ala, 25, pleaded guilty in Superior Court in Morristown to third-degree distribution of selling more than 100 tablets of the prescription painkiller Percocet to an undercover officer in Montville between Aug. 24, 2008 and Sept. 21, 2008. At that time, Ala was working as a pizzeria deliveryman and the drugs had been prescribed to him due to injuries he had suffered in a car crash.
Charged on Sept. 28, 2008 with second-degree drug distribution, Ala pleaded guilty to a third-degree crime under a plea agreement with the state Attorney General’s Office that calls for a sentence of probation.
Born in Republic of Macedonia and formerly of Albania, Ala was brought to the United States by his parents in 1988 when he was around four years old, and the family applied for and received asylum status upon arrival, he told Judge Philip Maenza. But because Ala had not taken any steps to become a U.S. citizen, he now likely faces deportation after serving his sentence, the judge told him.
After being charged in the drug case, Ala went to school for nursing, received a nursing license from the state and has since found work in that field, his defense attorney, Jay Surgent told the judge. The plea agreement also called for Ala to forfeit his nursing license.
Sentencing is set for July 9.
A map view of Montville, where a Lincoln Park man distributed drugs he was prescribed.