DRUG-DEALING COP TO BE PAROLED

Mountie Will Have Served One-Sixth Of 4-Year Term

A former RCMP officer and convicted drug dealer will get out of prison
after only eight months behind bars.

Joseph Daniel (Danny) Ryan, 33, formerly with the Tantallon plainclothes
street team, was approved last week for accelerated day parole to begin May 22.

"The board is satisfied that there are no reasonable grounds to believe
that, if released, you are likely to commit an offence involving violence
before the expiration date of your sentence," the National Parole Board
report states.

Mr. Ryan was sentenced Aug. 30, 2004, to four years in prison for marijuana
trafficking and breach of trust. He appealed the sentence four days later
and was released on bail. Mr. Ryan lost the appeal Sept. 27 and was sent to
prison.

Mr. Ryan was awaiting a transfer to Ottawa to work with as a member of the
prime minister's security detail when a source in custody labelled him a
"dirty cop."

A respected RCMP officer, Mr. Ryan had received the Commanding Officers'
Award of Excellence in January 2000 in recognition of outstanding work as a
member of the Tantallon street team. In one year, he and his partner seized
drugs worth more than $3 million.

But the source told police that Mr. Ryan gave him drugs to sell, and that
the officer received money from the sale.

The man wore a wire for police and recorded his conversations with Mr.
Ryan, which led RCMP to conduct an undercover sting against one of their own.

On Jan. 23, 2002, investigators placed 1.8 kilograms of wrapped marijuana
at a location off Highway 333 in Seabright, and RCMP officers waited nearby.

The source told Mr. Ryan where the drugs were and met with him in the
former officer's unmarked police car. On the tape, Mr. Ryan said he wanted
$3,000 to $5,000 from the sale of the marijuana.

RCMP caught the officer on video removing the drugs, which he gave to the
source to sell.

The source gave the marijuana to another officer after Mr. Ryan had driven
away.

Fellow officers arrested Mr. Ryan outside Cambridge Suites in Halifax and
charged him with trafficking marijuana and breach of trust.

He moved with his family to Aylmer, Que., in 2002, but in a letter to the
Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge presiding over his case, Mr. Ryan's wife
wrote that a psychologist believed Mr. Ryan was suicidal.

The parole report said that he had been diagnosed with a "depressive
disorder in partial remission."

"You expressed sincere remorse for your behaviour and the shame you placed
on your family and the RCMP," the parole report later states.

A regional spokesman for the parole board said releasing Mr. Ryan is
standard parole procedure and has nothing to do with his history in law
enforcement.

"The board members are bound by the criteria in the law, which states if
there are no reasonable grounds to believe that he's going to commit a
violent offence, then they must direct his day parole," Brian Chase said
Tuesday.

This stipulation is applied to first-time federal offenders who are serving
time for non-violent offences, Mr. Chase said.

"It's a very specific piece of legislation that's geared toward looking at
violence in these cases," he said.

Mr. Ryan will leave for an undisclosed halfway house next month under
accelerated day parole. Under the rules for accelerated review, he had to
serve one-sixth of his sentence to be eligible for early consideration.

The board also approved his release on full parole, pending the successful
completion of day parole.

Mr. Ryan's eligibility date for full parole of Jan. 21, 2006, remains the
same despite the accelerated review. He will remain on parole until his
sentence expires.