Navy Officer Gets 2 Years for Role in Drug Ring

A chief petty officer this week was convicted by a general courts-martial of using narcotics and tampering with a ship’s drug-detection program, and was sentenced to two years in a Navy brig.

Radioman Chief David Riley, 31, a 13-year Navy veteran who was the top law enforcement officer on the Long Beach-based frigate John A. Moore, will be dishonorably discharged for his role in a drug-distribution ring and the switching of urine samples. Riley, who faced a possible maximum sentence Wednesday of 68 years in prison, was reduced to the lowest rank.

He was charged with six counts of using marijuana and methamphetamine and four counts each of “conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline” and conspiracy to commit such conduct. He was one of nine sailors from the Moore involved in the drug ring, the subject of a seven-month investigation by the Navy.