COP GONE BAD GETS TWO YEARS

A Penticton Mountie who accepted money from drug dealers in exchange for
police information was jailed for two years Tuesday.

Former Const. Mark Webb, who pleaded guilty to possessing marijuana for the
purposes of trafficking and obstructing justice, put himself at the mercy
of the court and asked for house arrest by way of a conditional sentence.

But Judge Brian Weddell said RCMP officers "face a different yardstick"
than ordinary citizens and imposed the jail term.

"(RCMP) officers are people of integrity and trustworthiness. When such a
person engages in criminal activity, it strikes at the very fabric of this
country," the judge said.

"A conditional sentence is inadequate to express the heinousness of this
offence."

Webb's former partner Const. Terry Jacklin said incarceration is the
deterrence Webb needed.

"You trust your life with your fellow officers," he said. "You try to
achieve the same goal. After he leaves the office, the goal is changed."

Webb's wife tearfully handed him an overnight bag before he joined the
sheriff to go to the courthouse cells. The couple has a young child.

Jacklin said it's "interesting" that Webb's wife became pregnant soon after
his arrest in 1999.

"It may entice the court to be lenient," Jacklin said.

Webb, 32, was a member of the RCMP's plainclothes division in the summer of
1998 when he took part in a charade with Penticton drug dealers so he could
confiscate 30 pounds of marijuana and return it later for cash.

He arranged with Norman Melcoski to steal the pot from Ryan Brown in a gas
station parking lot. Brown showed up with three garbage bags of pot in his
car trunk as Melcoski carried a bag of paper that Brown believed was
$90,000 cash.

When Brown popped open his trunk, Webb drove up in an unmarked police car,
flashed his badge and ordered Brown into his car. He sent Melcoski away
before he seized the three bags of pot and put them in his vehicle. He told
Brown he'd give him a break in exchange for information in future and let
him go.

Webb stored the pot in his Summerland home and gave it days later to Shaun
Sunduk.

Brown, desperate to make amends with his supplier, unknowingly bought the
same pot for more than $50,000. Sunduk gave Webb $11,000 for his help in
the theft, which he deposited in his bank account and used to pay down a debt.

Brown later learned of the rip-off and blew the whistle on Webb when
arrested for an unrelated drug offence. The charge was dropped in exchange
for his evidence.

A few months later, Webb tipped off Sunduk that police were about to raid
his marijuana grow operation on Naramata Road. When officers moved in, they
found pot-growing equipment but no plants, which had been moved out in a hurry.

In April 1999, he told Sunduk police were about to use an infrared gun that
traces the heat generated from marijuana grow lights, and suggested turning
them off. Police found nothing and Sunduk paid Webb $1,000.

Like Brown, Sunduk received immunity from prosecution in return for his
evidence.

Webb's motive was greed, said Crown counsel Duncan Campbell. He planned his
crimes over a long period, betrayed his fellow officers and thwarted police
efforts.

Webb apologized to his former colleagues and the court. He has quit the
RCMP and is now making $19,000 a year , a third of his former salary, said
his lawyer David Martin.

Webb will be incarcerated in a secure facility that will keep him away from
the general prison population.