A retired New Jersey police chief has been ordered to pay back more than $28,000 after pleading no contest to scheming a 95-year-old Pennsylvania man.
Seventy-one-year-old Robert Ryan, the former chief in Garwood, entered the plea in court in Bucks County on Monday. It is not an admission of guilt, but an acknowledgment he would have been found guilty of stealing had the case gone to trial.
He was sentenced to time served to 23 months, with five years of probation.
Ryan said he had lost thousands of dollars in a hoax and was hoping to be reimbursed by helping the people who schemed him. He said most of the money he took from the man was wired to New York City or Jamaica.
Ryan called it a "foolish error."
Copyright AP - Associated Press
