NEW BRUNSWICK – The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office swore in its first female prosecutor.
Yolanda Ciccone, the former Assignment Judge of Somerset County, was sworn in to her new role on June 30 during a brief ceremony officiated by retired Judge and former Middlesex County Prosecutor Alan A. Rockoff.
In June 2020, Gov. Phil Murphy nominated Ciccone, a Metuchen resident, to become the Prosecutor of Middlesex County. She was confirmed by the N.J. Senate on June 15, 2020, beginning a five-year term as the county prosecutor, according to information provided by the MCPO.
Ciccone follows Andrew C. Carey, who was appointed acting county prosecutor of Middlesex County in May 2013. He was formally nominated by then-Gov. Chris Christie and was confirmed as the county prosecutor by the N.J. Senate in June 2014, according to the statement. Christopher L.C. Kuberiet had been serving as the acting prosecutor.
In 2019, Carey accepted an assignment with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey. In September 2019, he was sworn in as an assistant United States attorney assigned as Attorney-in-Charge for the Camden branch of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, according to the statement.
Ciccone began her legal career in 1980 as a law clerk to the Hon. John E. Bachman J.S.C. and Hon. Theodore Appleby, J.S.C. In September 1981, Ciccone began working as an assistant prosecutor in Middlesex County.
During her 10 years in the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office, Ciccone had a number of different duties including chief of the Juvenile Division, advisor to the Narcotics and Gambling Task Force, oversaw the Hate Crimes Task Force and negotiated memorandums of understanding with 23 of the Middlesex County school districts, according to the statement.
In October 1991 Gov. Jim Florio nominated Ciccone to the Superior Court, Middlesex County. During her tenure as a superior court judge, Ciccone served in the Family, Criminal and Civil Divisions. She was the presiding judge of the Civil Division from 2005 to 2006.
In September 2006, Chief Justice Deborah Poritz selected Ciccone as assignment judge of Vicinage 13 compromising Somerset, Hunterdon and Warren counties, according to the statement.
Ciccone earned her law degree from Seton Hall University School of Law in Newark and is a graduate of Douglass College at Rutgers University in New Brunswick.
Following her being sworn into office, Ciccone swore in assistant prosecutors, detectives, and staff who work in the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office via a virtual ceremony.
The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office oversees 26 municipal and university/college police departments as well as the county Sheriff’s Department and is amongst the busiest in the state. The office handles more than 6,500 criminal complaints annually, has a budget of $20.7 million and employs just over 200 people, according to the statement.