18-Year-Old Newburgh Man Trespasses At New Paltz Schools: Police

NEW PALTZ, NY — An 18-year-old Newburgh man was accused of trespassing at both the New Paltz Middle School and New Paltz High School.

The New Paltz Police Department said, around 8:20 a.m. Tuesday, an officer on routine foot patrol at the New Paltz High School was speaking with an administrator when a member of the cafeteria staff told them someone claiming to be a student entered the school from the kitchen area.

Police said the person refused to identify himself and was told by staff to leave.

The police officer and the school administrator began to check the school’s interior and encountered the person, who was later identified as Ben T. Kooperman, 18, of Newburgh.

He had gotten back into the high school, police said, after posing as a student and was let in through the front entrance.

The officer and the administrator stopped Kooperman and began questioning him, at which point he fled on foot out the main entrance.

He was taken into custody after a short foot chase that ended in a wooded area near the bus garage.

The high school was placed on a lockout while law enforcement continued its investigation.

Officers soon learned that Kooperman got into the New Paltz Middle School earlier that morning where he was confronted by staff. He then ran out of the building.

It was also learned that Kooperman was on the SUNY New Paltz campus where he was engaging in reckless driving behavior before getting into the middle school, police said.

Kooperman was charged with second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, a felony, and two counts of third-degree criminal trespass, misdemeanors.

He was arraigned in the New Paltz Town Court and released on his own recognizance to return Tuesday. The judge issued him a stay-away order of protection for the entire New Paltz Central School District.

The New Paltz Police Department was assisted by SUNY New Paltz Police and the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office.