COP GETS EIGHT-YEAR SENTENCE

A Superior court judge has sentenced a veteran Peel Regional Police officer
to eight years in prison after the 60-year-old admitted to stealing nearly
$3 million worth of cocaine and hash from a police storage facility just
months before he was to retire.

"It's a sad day for the administration of justice in this jurisdiction and
this province," Justice Peter Wilkie said as he sentenced Const. Martin
Goold inside a Brampton courtroom recently packed with the officer's
weeping family members and friends.

The drug trafficking and theft charges laid last spring against Goold, a
26-year veteran of the force and a Mississauga resident, prompted police to
audit and subsequently overhaul the organization's property management system.

Police say "new security measures have been implemented," as a result of
the Goold case.

Goold pleaded guilty Friday to possession of cocaine for the purpose of
trafficking, possession of hashish for the purpose of trafficking, and
breach of trust. The judge sentenced him to six years in prison for the
drug convictions and two years for breach of trust.

Wilkie said by planning to sell the drugs he had taken, Goold was
contributing to "(destroying) lives and families."

Goold apologized in open court Friday to Peel police for "tarnishing their
reputation."

Goold, who is married with a family, had been working as one of several
property co-ordinators in Peel's morality and drug property room since
about 1998. He had previously been a uniformed officer.