GUILTY MOUNTIE MADE POT DEALS FROM CRUISER

Details of disgraced former Mountie Danny Ryan's drug peddling came
out yesterday, showing he brazenly scored deals right out of his police car.

The ex-Tantallon officer - who was about to join then-Prime Minister
Jean Chretien's security detail when he was arrested - has been found
guilty of trafficking about 1.4 kilograms of marijuana and breach of
trust. He'll be sentenced Aug. 30.

Prosecutor David Bright, normally a defence lawyer, but hired as a per
diem Crown for this case, read out an agreed statement of facts about
the case at Nova Scotia Supreme Court yesterday.

He said Mounties got onto Ryan in December 2001, after two Halifax
Regional Police officers arrested another man on a couple of
outstanding warrants. The man identified Joseph Daniel Paul Ryan, then
a constable with the Tantallon RCMP, as a "dirty cop."

The man said Ryan supplied him with such drugs as hashish and he would
sell them. He agreed to wear a wire when meeting Ryan, in return for
money.

Police began investigating the allegations and determined the man was
an RCMP informant and that Ryan was his handler. The man, identified
only as source H1595, told officers he'd received "numerous"
quantities of drugs from Ryan, for which he'd give him cash.

H1595 said Ryan also gave him marijuana and a set of digital scales.

Wiretapped conversations revealed Ryan coaching the agent on how to
handle any potential RCMP source interview.

"When in doubt, just use faded memory as an excuse," he advised.

Ryan said there'd be no problem with a marijuana grow site the agent
suggested, though at times he wondered if he was being set up.

On Jan. 23, 2002, investigators planted four pounds of marijuana in a
Seabright location.

H1595 met Ryan in his police car - an unmarked one this time - and
directed him to the drugs. Police caught Ryan on videotape, picking up
the dope.

Ryan asked the agent how much he thought he could get for the drugs
and he said between $8,500 and $9,000. Ryan said he wanted $3,000 to
$5,000 from the sale. Police followed Ryan back to a Halifax hotel,
where they arrested him.

Ryan, who now lives in Quebec, did not attend court yesterday. He
plans to appeal.

"This undermines the basic confidence between prosecutor and police,"
Bright said. "Secondly, it undermines the confidence of the court in
police officers, because it's very important that police officers be
deemed to be objective and fair when they attend court."