An FBI agent testified today that her investigation into a string of bank robberies throughout central New Jersey revealed a pattern that led authorities last year to follow three suspects to a Hunterdon County bank they believed would be the bandits' next target.

When the suspects showed up at the PNC Bank in the Whitehouse section of Readington Township on April 5, 2007, authorities rushed to arrest two of them in the parking lot. In the ensuing chaos, an FBI agent was shot and killed by another agent.

Wilfredo Berrios, Efrain Lynn and Francisco Herrera-Genao, all in their 20s and from New Brunswick, are now on trial in U.S. District Court in Trenton on a slew of conspiracy, armed robbery and weapons counts from four bank robberies in the weeks leading up to the incident at the bank. They are not charged in FBI agenct Barry Lee Bush's death.

A worker at a state-run home for people with developmental disabilities in Hunterdon County pleaded guilty today to stealing a ring off the finger of a woman, who couldn't speak because of her condition.

Instead, the 62-year-old woman, who has multiple sclerosis, pointed to a messaging board to identify Ivonne Padmore, a worker at the Hunterdon Developmental Center in Union Township, who pleaded guilty to the theft charge.

Padmore, 57, of Easton, admitted she took the ring on Aug. 22, while she was working at the facility.

"I took it off her finger, without her permission, and I was not going to return it," Padmore told Judger Roger Mahon in Flemington.

A Pennsylvania man owned up to a drug possession and distribution charge in Hunterdon County today, sparing his girlfriend from going to trial after she originally took the blame for the crime.

Under the terms of a plea deal, Tywan Malone, 28, of Allentown, admitted that more than 300 prescription pills found by police during a 2006 motor vehicle stop in Clinton Township were his, and not his girlfriend's, as authorities originally thought.

Lashawn Shipman, a 31-year-old mother of their three children, risked 3 to 5 years in state prison, after she claimed the pills were hers, to protect Malone.

Malone appeared in Flemington Superior Court this morning to say he was solely responsible for the crime. "I was alone. She had nothing to do with it," Malone told Judge Roger Mahon.

Testimony is set to begin today in the trial of three men accused of a string of robberies that culminated in the shooting death of an FBI agent last year.

Wilfredo Berrios, Efrain Lynn and Francisco Herrera-Genao face a litany of armed robbery and weapons counts that could carry maximum combined sentences of more than 100 years.

Students in Drew University professor Kesha Moore's Thursday afternoon class must follow an unusual list of requirements: no weapons, sharp objects, cigarettes, cell phones, condoms, candy or cosmetics.

When you're holding class in a women's prison, a few rules must be enforced.

Moore's sociology class, held at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women in Hunterdon County, is a first in New Jersey. It is part of the national Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program, which brings students and prisoners together in 35 states to explore the justice system.

Matt Rainey/The Star-LedgerDrew University students and inmates at the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility share a laugh after a group presentation in Kesha Moore's sociology class, which is part of the national Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program.

An underdressed man sitting in his parked car outside a Readington motel on Thanksgiving, while temperatures were in the 40s, caught the attention of police, who arrested him on drug charges.

Patrolman Joseph Canonica was on routine patrol about 11 a.m. when he spotted Gordon Hauze, 43, of Pennsylvania, shirtless and shoeless, while sitting in his car outside the Travel Inn on Route 202, according to Lt. Frank Della Serra.

What's the long-range plan for farmland preservation?

The county Planning Board will hear comments on a draft of a 130-page report at a public hearing at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 4, in the Assembly Room of Building 1, at the county complex, Route 12, Raritan Township.

Three men authorities say formed a bank robbery ring in central New Jersey - including one who allegedly told investigators he became "addicted" to robbing banks - are scheduled to go on trial Monday for a string of robberies that culminated in the shooting death of an FBI agent last year.

Wilfredo Berrios, Efrain Lynn and Francisco Herrera-Genao, all in their 20s and from New Brunswick, face a litany of armed robbery and weapons counts that could carry maximum combined sentences of more than 100 years. A fourth suspect, Michael Cruz, pleaded guilty in January and is expected to testify for the government.

None of the men is charged with causing the death of FBI agent Barry Lee Bush, who was shot and killed by another agent who mistook him for a suspect during the confusion outside the PNC Bank in Readington, Hunterdon County, on April 5, 2007.