POT-SELLING MOUNTIE JAILED

HALIFAX -- A former RCMP officer who sold marijuana seized by police
drug squads is now behind bars with other pushers. Joseph Daniel Ryan,
33, was sentenced yesterday to four years in prison, a year longer
than the Crown requested.

"Oh, my God," wailed Ryan's pregnant wife, Lilly, as the sentence was
read in Nova Scotia Supreme Court.

Ryan, a former officer at the RCMP detachment in Tantallon, N.S., was
a highly respected constable who was in line to join the PM's security
team in Ottawa when he was charged.

"I love you babe," Ryan sobbed as he was led out of court after being
convicted in June of marijuana trafficking and breach of trust.

The prison sentence came one month after another blow to the Ryan
family.

The couple's six-month-old son suffered a severe brain injury in a
traffic accident that also broke Ryan's ribs.