Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone Will Retire At Year's End

MIDDLESEX COUNTY, NJ — Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone will retire at the end of December, according to an exclusive report on MyCentralJersey.com and confirmed by her office Tuesday morning.

Ciccone was the first woman to be the Middlesex County Prosecutor. She was appointed by Gov. Phil Murphy in 2020 to serve a five-year term as the top law enforcement officer in the county.

Incoming New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill will choose the next Middlesex County Prosecutor.

Before becoming the county prosecutor, Ciccone was a Superior Court judge in Middlesex County and an assignment judge in Somerset County. In her five years as the county prosecutor, she led the prosecution of many high-profile cases, with the biggest being the murder of Sayreville Republican Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour, who was shot multiple times at close-point range outside her home, while her 12-year-old daughter waited for her inside.

In August of this year, Ciccone and her team secured a guilty verdict for Rashid Ali Bynum for the murder, and he is currently serving a life sentence in prison.

Also in her term as prosecutor, Ciccone cracked down on the Acciardi family, who live in Monmouth County and who she and her team say were running a house of prostitution, racketeering, money laundering and income tax evasion at XXXV Club (Club 35), a strip club the family owns on Rt. 35 in Sayreville. In June of this year, the Acciardis pleaded guilty to allowing prostitution to occur there, and they also admitted failing to pay a total of $705,000 in income tax on revenue generated from the club.

Another high-profile case Ciccone prosecuted was in 2023, when a 33-year-old New Brunswick mother and nurse, Yokauri Batista-Alcantara, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for a drunk driving crash that killed her son and nephew, both 9. The crash occurred on Thanksgiving night and Batista-Alcantara was driving the two boys home from a Thanksgiving dinner with her family when she drove the wrong way down a Rt. 1 ramp in North Brunswick, and collided with another car. Batista-Alcantara admitted she was drunk and using her cell phone at the time of the crash.

Ciccone's career started in 1981 as an assistant prosecutor with the Middlesex County Prosecutor, MyCentralJersey reported.

Top convictions from Ciccone's time as prosecutor:

Killer Of Sayreville Councilwoman Gets Life In Prison, With Possibility Of Parole (Aug. 2025)

Family That Owns Sayreville Strip Club Must Pay $705,067 In Income Tax Evasion (October 2025)

Man Who Vandalized Rutgers Islamic Center In Hate Crime Gets 6 Months In Prison (April 2025)

Woman Sentenced In DUI Crash That Killed Son, Nephew In Middlesex County (2023)