Camden County Prosecutor Mary Eva Colalillo retiring Oct. 1; replacement named

Camden County Prosecutor Mary Eva Colalillo plans to retire at the end of the month and will be replaced by a deputy director of the state Division of Criminal Justice, state Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal announced Thursday.

Colalillo has been the highest-ranking law enforcement official in the county since she was appointed in June 2014 by Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican. She previously was a Superior Court judge in the county for 21 years in the family, criminal, equity, and civil divisions.

“For more than 30 years, Prosecutor Colalillo served the people of Camden County with integrity and class,” said Grewal. “She’s led the prosecutors and detectives of the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office in many significant investigations and prosecutions and devoted her career to public service.”

Jill S. Mayer, currently a deputy director in the state Division of Criminal Justice, will serve as acting county prosecutor effective Oct. 1, Grewal said. She has two decades of experience handling criminal investigations and prosecutions. She will be paid the statutory county prosecutor annual salary of $181,000, a spokesperson said.

Mayer has prosecuted cases involving violent gang members, drug dealers, financial crimes, racketeering, and casino crimes. She is counsel to the attorney general on all matters concerning electronic surveillance and wiretap law. She also serves as legal adviser to the New Jersey State Police Witness Assistance Program. She previously oversaw the Attorney General’s Shooting Response Team and reviewed all investigations of officer-involved shootings submitted by the 21 county prosecutor’s offices.

Mayer is credited with supervising a team that in 2014 dismantled a violent narcotics distribution enterprise, with ties to Mexican drug cartels, that was dealing millions of dollars a year in heroin and cocaine in Camden. She also prosecuted the leaders of several large-scale racketeering and narcotics trafficking network cases in Camden during her tenure as a deputy attorney general in the Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau.

She also has been an instructor for Top Gun, a program that trains law enforcement officers on investigating guns, gangs, and narcotics.

Before becoming a prosecutor, Mayer clerked for Superior Court Judge Albert J. Garofalo, presiding judge of the Atlantic County Superior Court. She received a bachelor’s degree from Dickinson College, with honors, and received a law degree from Widener University.