CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE — Rob Johnson was sworn into office Monday as the new First Assistant Prosecutor in the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office.
Johnson, 47, who joined the Prosecutor’s Office in February 1992 as an assistant prosecutor, has served as chief assistant prosecutor for the last 10 years and handled many of the offices high-profile cases.
“I like the more serious cases,” Johnson said as he recalled some of the important cases he has prosecuted. “Craig White comes to mind right away.”
White’s body has never been found, but Jesse Watkins was convicted of murder in the case in 2009, 19 years after White disappeared.
“I’m very proud of the work I was able to do in that case,” Johnson said, adding that obtaining a conviction in the murder of Wildwood resident Wallace Savitz also stood out among the many cases he has handled.
Gerald Daniels was convicted in Savitz’s death in 2007.
Johnson is now the second-highest official in the Prosecutor’s Office, which is headed by Prosecutor Robert Taylor.
The office currently has 11 attorneys, including Taylor, and 37 investigators, including Chief Eugene Taylor.
“I’m very excited to take on this new position,” Johnson said Monday.
Johnson thanked Robert Taylor for giving him the opportunity and said he intends to continue to operate in the tradition of retiring First Assistant Prosecutor J. David Meyer.
“I plan on keeping this a very professional office,” he said, adding no immediate changes were planned.
Land use attorney Ellen Nicholson Byrne, president of the Cape May County Bar Association, said Meyer would be missed, but she said Johnson would be a good fit for the post.
“I think it will be a good change for the office,” she said.
Johnson obtained his law degree from the University of Dayton in Ohio in 1991 after receiving a bachelor’s degree in political science from Montclair State University.
He served as a clerk with former county counsel Jim Webb and later clerked in the Prosecutor’s Office as an intern.
“I’d done a clerkship here when John Corino was prosecutor at the time and I loved it,” Johnson said of his decision to become a prosecutor.
Contact Trudi Gilfillian:
609-463-6716
