Cherry Hill's Chief Prosecutor Quits

By Carol D. Leonnig, Special to The Inquirer
Posted: August 08, 1989

Cherry Hill's chief prosecutor has resigned his post with the township, the mayor's office announced yesterday.

Matthew E. Segal offered Friday to give up his $15,000-a-year part-time job after meeting with Mayor Susan Bass Levin and the township solicitor, Francine Axelrad, a mayoral aide said. The resignation became effective immediately.

According to a press release announcing the change, Segal, who is also a Camden County freeholder and runs a one-man law practice in Cherry Hill, will be replaced by Elliot S. Stomel, an assistant prosecutor in Cherry Hill since 1981. Stomel also serves as president of the Camden County Municipal Prosecutors Association.

Stomel, a partner in the Haddonfield firm of Sandone & Stomel, has lived in Cherry Hill for more than 30 years and earned his law degree from St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas.

Both Segal and Levin were unavailable for additional comment yesterday, and Axelrad declined to explain what prompted the resignation.

In the past, Levin has criticized Segal for treading a thin line between professionalism and the appearance of a conflict of interest. From the spring of last year until June of this year, Segal was simultaneously a freeholder, chairman of the Democratic Party in Cherry Hill and the head prosecutor.

A staunch supporter of the county Democratic Party, Segal was recently replaced by Kevin Halpern as head of the Cherry Hill organization. He also has decided not to run for re-election as a freeholder in November.

In other changes, the township announced that it would hire Audubon lawyer Bruce Compaine and Cherry Hill lawyer Jeff Karl as assistant prosecutors.

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