Newark – Acting Essex County Prosecutor Robert D. Laurino announced in a statement that Ignacio Pimentel, a former Essex County Sheriff’s security officer, plead guilty today to illegally possessing a .40 caliber handgun.
According to a statement released by officials, under the terms of the plea agreement, Pimentel, 43, of East Orange is expected to be sentenced to five years in New Jersey State Prison.
Authorities say on Sept. 1, 2017, detectives from the Essex County Sheriff’s Department, acting on a tip, arrested Pimentel in the 700 block of Mt. Prospect Avenue in Newark, while he was exiting a building where he was illegally working as an armed security guard.
Police charged Pimentel with possession of heroin and cocaine, carrying hollow point ammunition, and a .40 caliber Smith and Wesson handgun, that he did not have a license to carry.
Sentencing is scheduled for July 23, 2018.
“While he was not a sworn sheriff’s officer, this defendant held a position of trust as a security guard with the Essex County Sheriff’s Department. He violated that trust by illegally possessing a handgun that he was not licensed to carry,’’ said Deputy Chief Assistant Prosecutor Walter J. Dirkin, who handled the case.