Co. Prosecutor Reflects on 13 Years; Murders, Drugs, Active Shooter Drills

CREST HAVEN – Cape May County Prosecutor Robert Taylor, a Democrat and former municipal judge, is packing boxes from his office in preparation for departing Oct. 1. He reached 70, the mandatory retirement age, and thus will end 13 years in that position. That’s two, five-year terms plus three years.
An acting prosecutor will be named in the interim until a replacement is appointed.
As Taylor’s tenure dwindled to the final few days, he reflected Sept. 21 on some of the cases and achievements from the day he took his oath in the Historic Courthouse from Superior Court Judge John Rauh Oct. 1, 2004.
Getting the Job
A photograph in the Oct. 6, 2004, Herald from his oath ceremony showed him shaking hands with former county prosecutor Stephen Moore, who departed in September 1999. In the interim, acting prosecutors oversaw office operations.
Getting that appointment ended a three-year wait for Taylor, as politicians “dueled over an appointment” according to a May 19, 2004 story by late Editor Joe Zelnik.
He was nominated by former Gov. James McGreevy. Thus began a voyage through the approval process that included an investigation by the state Attorney General, and thumbs up from the local and state bar associations.
Finally, it was Sen. Nick Asselta, a Republican, who supported Taylor’s appointment. Had Asselta desired, because of senatorial courtesy, he could have stalled the process.
At the time, then-county Democratic chairman, now Superior Court Judge James Pickering told the Herald that McGreevy “Picked the right man for the job. Bob Taylor will do a great job representing all the people of Cape May County.”
Earlier Times
Taylor was county Democratic chairman from 1996 to 1998. He also was a freeholder candidate in 1998 and received 9,939 votes. That election saw Gerald Thornton and Robert Matthews as victors.
Taylor was also the municipal prosecutor in Lower and Middle townships, as well as municipal court judge in those municipalities.
County Prosecutor’s Office
The Prosecutor’s Office has 89 employees, including the prosecutor, with a salary budget of just under $6.5 million. Taylor is paid $164,999.99 annually, according to the January 2017 county payroll.
When he took charge of the office, there were 55 employees with a $2.8-million payroll. At that time, the prosecutor was paid $141,000 annually.
From the outset of his term, Taylor pledged to target domestic violence and bullying and hoped to start a program in schools to combat those abuses.
Asked Sept. 21 what he believed was the biggest success as county prosecutor, Taylor replied without hesitation, “Our community outreach program. It’s especially important that we did this because drug dealers were approaching teenagers trying to sell them heroin at ages 12 and 13.
“We established the ‘Pills to Heroin’ program under Lt. Joe Landis, who leads the program.”
He said over 5,000 students, teachers and parents countywide have attended that program.
In the elementary schools, programs have addressed bullying and cyber-bullying and sexting. He cited one time in the Cape May Elementary School when the third graders were excited when the subject was bullying.
Taylor said forfeiture funds, money taken from dealers during drug arrests, funds such programs and all the items that are distributed to children.
“This (program) is something the next prosecutor should continue if I have any input, where they have the best chance of cutting back on the heroin epidemic. It’s getting to kids 12 and 13 years old,” said Taylor.
The death of a 13-year-old boy this summer from a heroin-fentanyl overdose still grieves Taylor. “This is something that can kill you if mixed with fentanyl,” he said.
Most Horrendous Case
While his office pressed several high-profile cases, including one involving State Trooper Robert Higbee accused in the on-duty crash deaths of two sisters in Upper Township, the “number one case” that he most remembers is the murder of 15-year-old Nicole Angstadt in Rio Grande in December 2015.
“That was a horrendous trauma for the family and community. It’s hard to imagine the depravity that occurred in that particular case,” said Taylor.
Drugs and More Drugs
The illegal drug epidemic that, this year alone has claimed 24 lives and 134 overdoses, according to Taylor, has taken more resources for the office’s investigators and assistant prosecutors.
Manpower aside, Taylor cited three “notable, large-scale drug busts.”
* Operation White House in 2014, a sweep that involved multi-agency cooperation including FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency and State Police along with municipal departments. The result was 12 kilograms (about 25 pounds) of heroin (sufficient for 182,000 bags), three kilograms (about seven pounds) of cocaine, one firearm, six motor vehicles, a residential property, over $220,000 in currency and one horse.
* Operation Dream Chaser in 2015 netted 22 arrests, 21 ounces of pure heroin, sufficient for 20,000 bags, four ounces of cocaine, 10 firearms, 22 motor vehicles, two residential properties and over $320,000 in cash.
* Operation Cold Front in 2016 which resulted in 15 arrests, 1,800 bags of heroin, 11.5 ounces of cocaine, four firearms and $54,000 in cash.
Drug Court
Taylor, as do many chiefs of police, recognizes that “We cannot arrest our way out of this” drug problem. Hence, he cited Drug Court as a viable solution to those with addictions who desire to be rehabilitated and, if successful, having their record expunged, or wiped clean.
He lauded Superior Court Judge Mark Sandson, who presides over Drug Court.
“We are doing better in Atlantic and Cape May counties,” said Taylor. He cited the stringent rules, including urine tests, but the result can be “rehabilitation…a clean record, and possibly a job.”
Murder, Missing
Taylor cited the murder case of Craig White of Whitesboro, and the murder conviction of Jesse Watkins, 55, in May 2009 to 45 years in prison for White’s slaying, as a cold case that his office worked on for “a long time.”
“I directed that we reexamine the evidence there. (First Assistant Prosecutor) Rob Johnson prosecuted that, it was one of the few cases where we were successful in the prosecution of a case without a body.”
The unsolved murder of Susan Negersmith in Wildwood on Memorial Day Weekend 1990 has dogged Taylor since he took office.
The case did not begin under his oversight, at first; the medical examiner’s initial conclusion was that the cause of her death was accidental and alcohol-related, subsequently, after prolonged pressing by family and victim advocates, state authorities, in 1993, declared Negersmith’s death a homicide.
Taylor categorized that case as “a real tragedy,” but added there is DNA on file. “We are hopeful that someday they will get a match,” he said.
Mark Himebaugh, 11, when he went missing from his Del Haven home Nov. 25, 1991, is another lingering, unsolved case that Taylor will leave for the next prosecutor.
“We followed leads as far as Mexico, and we followed up on every lead we got,” said Taylor.
High-Tech Crimes Unit
The dark side of the internet is where the unit’s members work to solve crimes that involve child pornography, computer hacking, scams against the elderly and missing persons.
Unit members routinely link with New Jersey State Police and the Secret Service to unravel a variety of crimes. Cell phones are an unforgiving tool in some cases, said Taylor. That’s because someone may claim to have been in a certain location at the time of a crime, but their cell phone records, attainable with a court order, will show their exact location, time and date.
Active Shooter Drills
Gone are the days of innocence when public schools were mandated to have a monthly fire drill, said Taylor. Now they must also have an active shooter, or lockdown, drills.
“This is what the world has come to; every one of our schools is a potential soft target for terrorists,” said Taylor. Because of that fact, the law enforcement community in each town works together when those drills take place.
Accreditation
Taylor pointed to the office as being one of two in the state that is accredited by the New Jersey Association of Chiefs of Police July 24, 2012, and reaccredited in March 2016 by the New Jersey State Chiefs of Police Association. “That is a testament to the assistant prosecutors and detectives and staff on the level of efficiency and perfection they work on.”
“We have the only county lab in New Jersey that is accredited to the same level as the New Jersey State Police lab, mainly for drugs, heroin,” he added.
“Without that lab, it would be impossible to target drug dealers who are selling the more dangerous heroin,” Taylor said. “If our Narcotics Task Force or local police departments seize bags of heroin with fentanyl we test it immediately,” said Taylor.
By doing so, it is possible to target a specific location to try to get that drug dealer. If we had to send it to the State Police lab it could take months to get results,” he added.
The Boat
New to the department in 2016 was the acquisition of a 29-foot Metal Shark Patrol Boat. The vessel, acquired 100 percent with federal grant funds, is used for maritime security by the Cape May-Lewes Ferry and Cape May Harbor, “The third busiest fishing port on the East Coast,” added Taylor.
“We got this boat because we worked with federal port security people on Delaware Bay and Philadelphia. A port security grant became available to purchase the boat. It’s designed for homeland security and terrorism incidents. Part of the boat is as a deterrent to anyone thinking of bombing the ferry or doing anything with our ports,” said Taylor.
“There is evidence that two of the Fort Dix (attackers) were surveilling the U.S. Coast Guard base before Fort Dix as a potential terrorist site,” said Taylor.
Operating expenses are paid by drug forfeiture funds. No county taxpayer money was used to buy, equip or operate the boat, Taylor said.
“Residents have to understand that drugs are introduced into the county by boats,” he said.
After Oct. 1
Taylor expects to become active with Cape Assist to help people with addictions, perhaps in Middle Township municipal court where those seeking help with addictions can receive aid.