NORWICH – 30-year-old Ryan J. Hackett, who was facing several serious drug felonies, plead guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge instead on Tuesday, in Chenango County Court.

Hackett was arrested in November 2016, at his residence in the Village of Oxford, and allegedly found by police to be in possession of more than a pound of marijuana packaged for sale, hundreds of LSD pills, drug paraphernalia, sheets of wax paper with concentrated cannabis, 10 syringes, scales, all of which totaled more than $50,000 in street value. Cash in the amount of $1993.00 was also seized on that day.

The defendant plead guilty to a misdemeanor drug offense Tuesday but he was originally charged in November of last year with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fourth degree, a class C felony; criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, a class B felony; criminal possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, a class B felony; and criminal possession of marijuana in the second degree, a class D felony, after police reported completing a month-long investigation.

Speaking in court District Attorney Joseph McBride said he consulted with the Oxford Police Department and the defense council before deciding to settle the case, in part, due to "evidentiary issues," relating to the investigation.