Ex-sheriff's deputy sentenced to 4 years, 9 months
A man who used to be a sheriff's deputy in Nova Scotia before he pleaded guilty to 10 drug-related charges was sentenced to four years, nine months in prison on Wednesday.
Tyrone David, 43, was arrested more than three years ago after Halifax Regional Police saw a young woman pass an envelope to a uniformed sheriff's deputy in the parking lot of Arby's, not far from the Dartmouth courthouse.
The envelope contained hash, heroin and amphetamines.
Authorities said David was part of a plot to smuggle drugs into the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in the Burnside Industrial Park, where notorious crime leader Jimmy Melvin Jr. was incarcerated at the time.
Members of David's family were in court on Wednesday to support the former deputy. He hugged many of them before taking a seat beside his lawyer to await the sentencing decision.
David also faces a weapons ban and must provide a DNA sample.
Sources told CBC News the woman allegedly involved in the drug trade, Kathleen Kierans, was the girlfriend of Melvin.
Kierans had been co-accused with David but she was found dead in her Dartmouth apartment in July 2011.
An RCMP drug expert told the court during the sentencing hearing a few weeks ago that the quantity and variety of drugs seized from David were worth five to 10 times their regular street value because they were to be distributed within the secure facility where drugs are harder to come by.
Police said they seized $700 cash from David when he was arrested. They turned up $1,100 more when they searched his vehicle. The drug expert said the street value of the drugs found on David matches the $700 that they found on him.
