The former owner of Sellin Style car dealership near Blyn pleaded guilty last week to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, Acting U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes said last week.

Timothy P. Smith, 30, was arrested in February 2014, following a high speed chase that ended after two sets of spike strips were placed on the highway.

Smith pleaded guilty in United States District Court for the Western District in Tacoma on Jan. 2.

All of Smith’s charged co-conspirators, Kelsey J. Davis, Tammy R. Coburn, Holli A. Bell, Jacob E. Davis and Charles D. Aslin, also have pleaded guilty in the case.

Smith faces a mandatory minimum 10 years in prison, and up to life imprisonment, when sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert J. Bryan on March 27 in Tacoma Federal Court.

According to records in the case, Smith and his accomplices had been under investigation by federal law enforcement since 2011. Some of the federally indicted offenses, investigated by local law enforcement, went back even further.

In particular, Smith sold methamphetamine to a person working with law enforcement on multiple occasions in June, July and August 2013 at his Sellin Style car dealership on Old Blyn Highway near Sequim.

In conjunction with a separate investigation and take-down of a larger drug ring, which was supplying methamphetamine to Smith and others, law enforcement arrested Smith as he traveled back to Sequim from Kitsap County on Feb. 23, 2014.

Shortly after Smith’s vehicle crossed the Hood Canal bridge, the Washington State Patrol pulled the car over . After initially stopping, Smith sped away, traveling at speeds nearing 100 mph and weaving into the lane for oncoming traffic. Troopers noticed white bags tossed from the car; inside were 1.6 pounds of methamphetamine. The car hit one set of spike strips and continued on.

After hitting a second set of spike strips the car came to a halt and Smith and his girlfriend, Kelsey Davis, were taken into custody.

Davis also had $4,000 in cash on her person, which she revealed in a monitored jail call to have been given to her by Smith during the police chase.

The case was investigated by the FBI, ATF and Olympic Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Team (OPNET), a task force containing officers from Clallam County Sheriff’s Office, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Port Angeles Police Department, Sequim Police Department, Neah Bay Department of Public Safety, Elwha Klallam Police, LaPush Police, the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Border Patrol, the Washington Department of Corrections, Washington State Patrol and the West Sound Narcotics Enforcement Team.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Gregory A. Gruber.