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An officer stopped the 2005 Infiniti for several violations on northbound Route 287 Tuesday night and was joined by a K-9 unit, Mahwah Police Chief James N. Batelli said Thursday.
The driver, 25-year-old Scott R. Coopermen of Pine Bush, and passenger, 33-year-old Jessica Miller of Walden, gave conflicting stories about why they were in the area, the chief told Daily Voice.
Cooperman agreed to a search of the car, where the officers found five bricks of heroin in a vacuum-sealed container -- “to deter a trained narcotic K-9 from detecting it” -- attached to the frame in the engine compartment, Batelli said.
They also found a compressed air pellet gun in the trunk, he said.
Miller was released pending a hearing on drug possession charges.
Coopermen, meanwhile, was taken to the Bergen County Jail – and released by a judge a short time later, pending a hearing, under New Jersey’s 2017 Bail Reform & Speedy Trial Act.
He’s charged with possession of the heroin with the intent to distribute it and weapons possession, among other offenses.
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