Office of the Attorney General: Trenton Man Sentenced to Prison on First-Degree Cocaine Charge
- Also Sentenced on 1st-Degree Sexual Assault Charge Brought by Mercer County Prosecutor

FROM THE OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

August 05, 2008

Contact: Division of Criminal Justice
609-292-4791


TRENTON - Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni announced that a Trenton man was sentenced to 10 years in prison today for selling crack cocaine.

According to Director Gramiccioni, Lance Royal, 28, of Trenton, was sentenced to ten years in state prison with five years of parole ineligibility by Superior Court Judge Darlene Pereksta in Mercer County. Royal pleaded guilty on May 29 to first-degree distribution of cocaine, a charge contained in a state grand jury indictment obtained by the Division of Criminal Justice in September 2007. In pleading guilty, Royal admitted that he sold more than five ounces of cocaine in Trenton on April 22, 2005.

Royal also was sentenced today pursuant to his guilty plea to a charge of first-degree aggravated sexual assault on a minor. That charge was contained in an indictment obtained by the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office. Judge Pereksta sentenced Royal to seven years in prison on that charge, which carries an 85 percent parole disqualifier, meaning he must serve nearly six years before being eligible for parole. The judge ordered that the two sentences run concurrently.

The drug charge resulted from an investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics Strike Force.

Deputy Attorney General Daniel I. Bornstein prosecuted the drug case and represented the Division of Criminal Justice at the sentencing.