Cincinnati man sentenced to 25 years in prison for role in narcotics, firearms conspiracies

CINCINNATI – Mason Meyer, 32, of Cincinnati, was sentenced in federal court here today to 300 months in prison. Meyer is the final of 16 defendants charged in this case for their roles in narcotics and firearms conspiracies.

The case originated with Meyer and another individual involved in an Aug. 7, 2020, police chase through Cincinnati that resulted in the deaths of two bystanders in Newport, Kentucky. Meyer and Kirsten Johnson, 26, of Cincinnati, were charged federally in August 2020. Ongoing investigation led to the additional 14 defendants and charges.

According to court documents, officials with the ATF, Cincinnati Police and the Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force were surveilling Meyer in Cincinnati on Aug. 7, 2020, when Meyer drove away. Cincinnati police officers attempted to stop Meyer when he fled, causing a police chase through Cincinnati and into Covington and Newport, Kentucky.

Local court documents detail that Meyer’s vehicle struck and killed a couple dining on the patio of Press on Monmouth in Newport, Kentucky. Two other pedestrians were struck and suffered minor injuries.

At the time of the chase, Meyer and Johnson possessed 50 grams or more of methamphetamine, two loaded handguns and a loaded rifle.

A grand jury indicted all 16 defendants in the federal case in July 2021, charging the defendants in a firearms conspiracy and in a narcotics conspiracy involving 500 grams or more of methamphetamine and cocaine and 10 grams or more of LSD, as well as detectable amounts of MDMA, DMT, marijuana and ketamine.

In total, as part of this case, law enforcement seized 11 firearms and more than one kilogram of methamphetamine, more than 200 pounds of DMT, more than five kilograms of marijuana, more than 15 kilograms of hashish and hashish oil, more than one kilogram of MDMA, more than 19,000 dose units of LSD, fentanyl, cocaine, and other synthetic and counterfeit drugs.

Meyer’s source of supply of methamphetamine, Ryan Haskamp, 36, of Cincinnati, was sentenced in February to 27 years in prison. Haskamp used at least five Cincinnati residences as stash houses to store and sell drugs. He also had others rent Airbnb locations and hotel rooms to further his drug trafficking. Haskamp had packages of drugs delivered to the Airbnb rental properties. Haskamp supplied drugs for redistribution in Cincinnati and Dayton via numerous co-defendants.

Others convicted in this case include:

Kelly A. Norris, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio; Thomas A. Greco, Acting Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF); Andrew Lawton, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa A. Theetge and agencies with the Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force and Drug Abuse Reduction Task Force (DART) announced the sentence imposed today by U.S. District Judge Jeffery P. Hopkins. Assistant United States Attorney Ashley N. Brucato is representing the United States in this case.

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