WHITECOURT, Alta. – One of two men convicted in the deaths of four Alberta Mounties has pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance.

Dennis Cheeseman appeared in Whitecourt via closed-circuit TV from the Edmonton Remand Centre.

Cheeseman was fined $1,000 for having prescription drugs that were not in his name.

He was arrested and charged on Aug. 29 in Whitecourt.

Cheeseman was released from prison last November after serving two-thirds of his sentence for manslaughter in the fatal shooting of the RCMP officers at a farm in Mayerthorpe in 2005.

Conditions of his release included his abstaining from drugs and alcohol and not associating with criminals until his entire sentence expires on April 13, 2016.

The Parole Board of Canada will decide if Cheeseman violated his parole conditions.

Cheeseman and his brother-in-law, Shawn Hennessey, pleaded guilty to manslaughter for giving James Roszko a rifle and a ride to his farm where the Mounties were gunned down.

Constables Peter Schiemann, Anthony Gordon, Brock Myrol and Leo Johnston were guarding a Quonset hut on Roszko’s property on March 3, 2005, as part of a marijuana grow-op and automobile chop-shop investigation.

He ambushed the officers before he was shot and wounded, then killed himself.

Cheeseman was sentenced in 2009 to seven years and two months. Hennessey was sentenced in 2009 to 10 years and four months for his role in the crime.

They both lost court appeals asking for shorter sentences.

Hennessey is facing a parole board hearing later this month.

(CFXW, The Canadian Press)