A former Greenwich police officer who prosecutors said was addicted to heroin during his employment pleaded guilty to federal firearms charges after investigators said he illegally transferred five firearms on behalf of his drug dealer.
Joseph Ryan, 57, pleaded guilty to possession of firearms by an unlawful user of a controlled substance Monday afternoon before U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer.
In April 2019, Ryan was a Greenwich police officer. He first took five guns from the Ansonia Police Department that were seized in a state search warrant in 2018.
Months later in August and September 2019, Ryan would steal three more firearms that were obtained in a control purchase during an investigation of a man named Malique Martin, who Ansonia police were looking into for illegally dealing firearms without a license.