Plea: Drug ring trafficked LSD, ecstasy, hashish, 200 pounds of psychedelic drug DMT

Four years ago, a man being investigated for trafficking drugs and guns led police on a chase from Lower Price Hill into Newport, where he crashed into a restaurant's sidewalk patio, killing a husband and wife.

The investigation into that crash led to the seizure of massive quantities of illegal drugs and charges against 16 people − including a man prosecutors say was the leader of the drug trafficking organization at the center of the case.

That man, 36-year-old Ryan Haskamp, pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Cincinnati to drug and gun conspiracy charges, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Haskamp is the last of the 16 people charged to plead guilty, officials said.

In total, authorities seized 11 guns and more than one kilo of methamphetamine, 200 pounds of the hallucinogenic drug DMT, five pounds of marijuana, 15 kilos of hashish and hashish oil, one kilo of MDMA or ecstasy, 19,000 doses of LSD, as well as other drugs including fentanyl and cocaine.

Haskamp faces 15 years to life in prison. A sentencing date has not been scheduled.

Haskamp supplied methamphetamine to Mason Meyer, 32, the driver of the car involved in the August 2020 fatal crash outside Press on Monmouth Street in Newport. Two other people were injured in the crash.

According to prosecutors, Haskamp used at least five homes in the Cincinnati area as "stash houses," to store and sell drugs.

He also enlisted others to use hotel rooms or rent properties through Airbnb to traffic drugs and had packages of drugs delivered to the Airbnb properties, prosecutors said. He supplied drugs to numerous others who would distribute them in both the Cincinnati and Dayton areas.

Meyer pleaded guilty in 2021 to charges including murder and was sentenced to life in prison .

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Plea: Drug ring trafficked LSD, ecstasy, hashish, 200 pounds of psychedelic drug DMT