MOUNTIES BUST ONE OF THEIR OWN

Tantallon RCMP Officer Faces Trafficking Charges After Marijuana
Seized From Hotel

DARRELL OAKE RCMP officer Const. Danny Ryan faces charges of
trafficking in marijuana.

A Tantallon Mountie hung his head in court yesterday, charged with the
crime he has spent the last three years busting other people for.

Const. Joseph Daniel Paul (Danny) Ryan, a six-year veteran, is accused
of trafficking marijuana. He was arrested at the Cambridge Suites
Hotel at 6 p.m. Wednesday. Mounties seized a quantity of marijuana
during the arrest.

Ryan, 31, a Montreal native whose father is a lawyer, was staying at
the Brunswick Street hotel because he had recently sold his Timberlea
home.

He was in the process of moving to Ottawa with his common-law wife and
young child.

He has been suspended with pay, but that could change, said RCMP
spokesman Sgt. Wayne Noonan, adding there could be more charges.

"It's still under investigation," he said.

Noonan said the allegations surfaced "a short time
ago."

"Because of the seriousness of the allegations, we had to act on them
as quickly as possible," he said.

Noonan said he didn't know whether the drugs were evidence from police
raids.

"We have pretty strict procedures on storage of every exhibit, but
having said that, this information will surely come forward as the
investigation unfolds," he said.

Ryan's lawyer, Mike Taylor, said the amount of marijuana involved is
less than four kilograms.

Ryan was part of the Tantallon detachment's highly successful,
two-member plainclothes drug team. Nicknamed the Street Team, the
squad focused on street-level drugs and acted on information gleaned
from other investigations and community sources.

In 2000, the Street Team seized drugs with a police-estimated street
value of $3 million. Among the haul were 1,668 marijuana plants, 11
kilograms of processed pot, three kilos of hashish and 193 Valium
pills. "We believe we are making a dent in the drug trade," Ryan told
The Daily News in 2000.

"But it is just a dent."

Ryan was released yesterday on several conditions after his common-law
wife, Sharon Lilly, posted $5,000 bail. He is to stay at the Cambridge
Suites, remain in the province, hand over his passport, gun, badge and
any other RCMP property. He is to stay away from the Halifax and
Tantallon RCMP detachments, and from any police informants.

He will be back in Halifax provincial court June 4 for election and
plea.