Police Chief Accused of Having Illegal-Substance Parcel Sent, Resigns

HACKENSACK, N.J. (AP) —

A New Jersey police chief suspended after his arrest on charges of buying illegal substances and having it shipped to his post office box has resigned.

The executive director of the Palisades Interstate Park Commission says 43-year-old Michael Coppola handed in his resignation Aug. 15 as chief of the Palisades Interstate Parkway police department.

Bergen County prosecutors allege that he went to a post office box earlier this month to retrieve the order, for which detectives had substituted imitation drugs, and was arrested during a motor vehicle stop in Ridgefield Park.

Coppola is charged with attempting to possess drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia. He’s scheduled to make a court appearance Wednesday.

Coppola joined the department in 1996 and became chief in 2014.

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