Paul J. Dolan, the mail carrier who was videotaped in his U.S. Postal Service truck smoking methamphetamine, begged Ramsey County District Judge Edward Wilson for mercy at his sentencing hearing Monday.

"I've embarrassed a lot of people," said Dolan, 53, the brother of Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan. "I'd like to make it up to them by going back to work."

Dolan told Wilson that he's likely to lose his job if he has to do significant jail time.

"I'm begging you for mercy so I can take care of my family," he said.

Prosecutor Richard Dusterhoft, however, said Dolan has had lots of chances. While he had two drug felonies pending in the Twin Cities, he was arrested in October in Morrison County for possessing drugs. And after pleading guilty in the former cases on Dec. 8, he violated his conditional release 34 days ago when he again tested positive for drugs.

Wilson gave Dolan two concurrent year-and-a-day sentences in each of the felony cases, but stayed execution of those, ordering him to serve six months in the workhouse. Dolan also was ordered to pay $50 fines in each case and serve 10 years on probation.

Dolan was charged in August in Ramsey County with possessing meth and trafficking in marijuana after the Postal Service taped him smoking meth with a camera installed in his vehicle. When authorities searched his home in north Minneapolis, they found 130 marijuana plants and a grow operation, according to court documents.

PAT PHEIFER