BRANCHVILLE -- A Branchville woman is claiming State Police and Sussex County Prosecutor's Office officers raided her home, slammed her against a wall and accused her of dealing drugs in an hours-long ordeal in 2015, though she doesn't sell drugs and police never found any.

In a recently filed lawsuit, the homeowner, Patricia Gold, said she called police earlier on the night of Dec. 14, 2015 after a neighbor told her there was a suspicious minivan driving back and forth in front of her home.

Police informed Gold that the minivan was, in fact, a UPS vehicle delivering packages and she later found a package outside her home, according to the complaint.

All seemed well until about a half hour later, when Gold heard pounding on her front door and saw a State Police trooper outside, the complaint says.

Assuming the trooper was responding to her earlier call, Gold says she opened the door.

It was then that the trooper, later identified as Richard Nugnes, "grabbed her right wrist, threw it above her head and slammed her body into the center foyer wall," the complaint says.

The complaint goes on to say that Nugnes then told Gold he was conducting a drug raid, flashed what he claimed was a search warrant, and repeatedly yelled at Gold to tell her "where everyone was."

Gold claims that Nugnes and around 10 other officers, some in uniform and some plain-clothed, "destroyed" her entire home -- including the basement and attic -- for several hours, while keeping her confined in her kitchen, screaming in her face and repeatedly accusing her and her children of being drug dealers.

The complaint says the officers "claimed her home was a drop off point for narcotics that were supposedly being shipped from Miami and threatened her that she could be put in prison for up to 10 years if she didn't confess."

State Police and the Sussex County Prosecutor's Office declined to comment on Gold's claims and would not answer any questions about the incident, saying they could not because of the pending litigation.

Gold says in the complaint that she repeatedly tried to explain to the officers that she was not a drug dealer and that they had the wrong house, but that they ignored her and persisted.

The officers also suggested Gold was "using her sons to sell drugs in order to pay her bills," the complaint says.

The raid ended and no drugs were found, the complaint says, though officers took the package she had received as well as her cell phone and told her they would call her in the morning.

The following day Gold was instructed to report to the Sussex County Prosecutor's Office by SCPO Det. Aldo Leone in order to sign a release that would allow her phone to be searched and she did so, the complaint says.

It says officers also opened the package and found it contained bath oil and incense, which they told her would be kept and tested for drugs.

Gold was allowed to leave and told by Leone that she "was not arrested...yet," the complaint says. She was informed about a month later that the package tested negative for drugs.

Gold is suing State Police and the Sussex County Prosecutor's Office, saying her entire neighborhood was alerted to the fact that officers were at her home and that she has suffered severe emotional distress as a result of the raid.

Gold's lawyer, Brian Schiller of Schiller McMahon in Westfield, said it is unclear whether the officers had a valid search warrant or followed proper protocols in obtaining one in light of the fact that the package tested negative for drugs.

"Patty called the police for protection that night. Little did she know that she needed protection from the police," Schiller said. "The disappointing thing about this case is that Patty spent the better part of her nursing career taking care of people, and in her capacity as a nurse, she dealt with police officers all the time. She holds good cops in the very highest regard and has nothing but respect for police officers who do their job well. But these officers were not good police and they did not uphold the integrity of the badge."

Schiller is also calling for a criminal investigation into police misconduct in the case.

"Hopefully this lawsuit can lead to accountability and much needed law enforcement reforms," he said.

Jessica Remo may be reached at jremo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessicaRemoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.