Rogue Priest Pleads Not Guilty to Meth Sales
By Michael Mayko
The money just kept rolling in. There was $50 for a hit; $60 for a quarter gram; $575 for an eight-ball (3.5 grams); $1,000 for 7 grams. From August to December, Kevin Wallin, the Catholic priest dubbed "Monsignor Meth," took in more than $300,000 selling crystal meth, mostly from his Waterbury apartment, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Caruso. So much for any vow of poverty Wallin may have made. On Tuesday, the 61-year-old Wallin who once advised two Bridgeport Diocese bishops, appeared in U.S. District Court before Magistrate Thomas P. Smith to plead not guilty to seven federal charges: participating in a conspiracy to distribute crystal meth and making six sales to an undercover police officer. "My gosh, Father, for your first involvement in the criminal justice system, you picked a real doozy," Smith told Wallin, who was not wearing his priestly garb, but sported an orange jump suit at least two sizes too big. "The drug involved is very deadly. It has the capacity of destroying a person's mind ... it is so much worse than heroin ... than cocaine." The offenses carry a mandatory 10-year prison term with a maximum of life upon conviction, Caruso said. "On the scale of federal drug offenses this is about as serious as it gets," he said. "Our evidence is very, very strong. There were six controlled purchases by an undercover police officer ... a wiretap for 30 days in which the nature of the calls is very explicit and left little to the imagination in terms of quantity and dollar amounts." Just as important, Caruso said, is the "bulk quantity of methamphetamine divided into prepackaged quantities" found during a search of Wallin's second-floor apartment at 22 Golden Hill St., Waterbury. The investigation also exposed Wallin's propensity for cross-dressing and engaging in sexual activity with men in his rectory room at St. Augustine's Cathedral in Bridgeport. Wallin had previously served at St. Peter Church in Danbury from 1996 to 2002. Caruso said the federal probe's evidence includes "a six-page color-coded detailed description and accounting of how much meth was shipped" from Wallin's sources in California and "how much Mr. Wallin paid." The sources -- Chad McCluskey, 43, of San Clemente, Calif., and his girlfriend, Kristen Laschober, 47, of Laguna Nigel, Calif -- were arrested Jan. 10 in Nevada and are in the process of being brought to Connecticut by the U.S. Marshal's Service. A copy of Wallin's six-page document also was found in Laschober's possession, the prosecutor said. Two additional co-defendants, Kenneth Devries, 52, of 24 Golden Hill St., Waterbury, Wallin's right-hand man, and Michael Nelson, 40, of Manchester, also are under arrest and are being detained without bond pending arraignment. But Caruso named Wallin as the leader of the Connecticut distribution ring. Looking thin and pale, Wallin gulped down glasses of water, while listening to Caruso review the evidence. Then his court-appointed attorney, Assistant U.S. Public Defender Kelly Barrett, tried to obtain his release to the St. John Vianney Center, a Pennsylvania-based behavioral health facility for clergy, for treatment. Caruso pointed out that Wallin left that same facility last spring, just five weeks into treatment. "That speaks of the ability of the center to keep him there," Caruso said. "He has no means to flee, nowhere to go," Barrett countered. She suggested Wallin be released to the center, outfitted with an electronic monitoring device and forced to sign a $500,000 non-surety bond. "What I glean from here is he's got a meth addiction that has be overcome -- and that is no small task," Smith said. "Once that's addressed, I believe other mental health issues have to be addressed." Wallin, who is still technically a priest although he is not carrying out any ministerial duties, continues to receive a stipend from the Bridgeport Diocese.
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