A judge denied an early end to probation for a former Palisades Interstate Parkway Police chief caught trying to buy cocaine online.

Michael Coppola was suspended in 2018 and then resigned from his post after he was arrested trying to buy cocaine. He was denied a termination to his probation on Friday after being sentenced May 2019.

Superior Court Judge Margaret Foti agreed with Assistant Prosecutor James Santulli that the one-year probationary period was “minimal,” emphasizing that Coppola would likely need to seek drug counseling for the rest of his life.

“He’s going to have a lifelong drug problem," Foti said.

In December 2018, Coppola was indicted by a grand jury on six drug charges, including third-degree charges of cocaine possession and cocaine distribution. Last May, Coppola was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay fines and undergo drug treatment.

His attorney Paul Tyschenko argued the probation, which is set to end in May, has become a hindrance to Coppola who sometimes has to travel to Ohio where his job is based. He is required the give the probation office weeks of advance notice if he’s there longer than a day,

“He is often called to travel there,” Tyschenko said. “However because of his status on probation he needs to give probation weeks of advance notice if he’s going to be out of the state for longer than 24 hours. That is certainly a hindrance to his current job.”

Additionally, Tyschenko argued that Coppola could not go to job interviews out of the state.

But Santulli said that Coppola needed to complete probation to prevent him from a “backslide back into addiction.”

Ultimately, Foti ruled that the year-long probation was a minimal sentence and that Bergen county would be in touch with the Passaic probation office where Coppola checks in to facilitate a shorter advance notice for work travel. Coppola is from Totowa.

Coppola, who had been the police chief since 2014, was suspended in July 2018 after a scathing report from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office that showed he ran an “awards and incentives” program for officers who wrote the most tickets and made the most arrests. Some of the rewards were better parking spaces, newer police cars and even meals paid for with Palisades Interstate Park Commission funds, according to the report.

The report also showed that Coppola’s company, CJIS Solutions LLC, provided IT services for the department, which it characterized as a “severe conflict of interest.” Although Coppola did not charge for or profit from the services, the prosecutor’s office told the department to sever the agreement.

Among the most alarming revelations, the report showed that the department often engaged in dangerous high-speed police pursuits that violated the New Jersey Attorney General’s policy. One pursuit ended in a fatality when a man fell off a cliff while he was running from officers. The incident was not reported to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office as required, the report states.

The prosecutor’s office investigation was launched after the death of a motorcyclist who lost control and crashed during a high speed chase that exceeded 130 miles per hour.

Coppola’s troubles were compounded when he was arrested for trying to buy cocaine online and having it shipped to his post office box. Detectives had placed a package containing fake cocaine in the post office box after he made a fake online drug buy. When he went to pick the shipment up, Coppola was arrested in a stop on Route 80 in Ridgefield Park.

“I think the state acknowledges that this defendant has paid quite a price for what has occurred in his life and he wants to get on with his life," said Foti. "I think a six month period is not an overly burdensome period of time to complete his probation.”

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