Meth Priest's Alleged Drug Suppliers in Court

By Michael P. Mayko
Ct Post
February 22, 2013

http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Meth-priest-s-alleged-drug-suppliers-in-court-4298759.php

HARTFORD -- They spent Christmas in Chicago and the New Year in Las Vegas.

But Valentine's Day for Chad McCluskey and Kristen Laschober was spent apart in separate jail cells.

The California couple accused of supplying the crystal meth that allegedly kept the Monsignor Kevin Wallin in business was reunited briefly Thursday when they were brought before a U.S. magistrate for their arraignment.

The 61-year old Wallin, who was secretary to two Catholic bishops in Bridgeport, later the popular pastor of St. Peter Church in Danbury, and then St. Augustine's Cathedral in Bridgeport, was suspended from his priestly duties after church officials became aware of drastic changes in his character and behavior.

Those charges included dressing as a woman and having sex with men in the Bridgeport cathedral's rectory room.

McCluskey and Laschober are accused of sending packages filled with crystal meth to Wallin's cramped Waterbury apartment.

Wearing a powder-blue jumpsuit in court Thursday, Laschober, a 47-year-old wardrobe stylist, and McCluskey, 43, an electronics consultant who was dressed in khakis for the appearance, both pleaded not guilty to a charge of conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute crystal meth.

"Kristin maintains her innocence and we are preparing a vigorous defense," said Francis O'Reilly, Laschober's court-appointed lawyer following the proceedings. "She has no prior criminal record and worked hard establishing her wardrobe business."

The charge carries a maximum term of life in prison with a mandatory 10 years behind bars.

Both Todd Bussert, McCluskey's hired lawyer, and O'Reilly asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas P. Smith that the scheduled detention hearings be postponed. A tentative March 5 date was set; the pair will be housed at the Wyatt Detention Center in Rhode Island.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Caruso previously said records seized during Wallin's Jan. 3 arrest indicated he rang up $300,000 in crystal meth sales since August. Caruso accused Wallin of "heading the operation."

Laschober and McCluskey knew Wallin was a priest, according to evidence.

Court documents state the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in New York City became aware of the priest's involvement from a cooperating witness. That individual accused Wallin of distributing the drugs.

He even stated the priest, who once served as the secretary to bishops Walter Curtis and Edward Egan, now a cardinal, had asked him to retrieve packages delivered to his Waterbury home.

That occurred while Wallin was in a treatment facility ordered by the Diocese of Bridgeport. Wallin walked out of the program, which led to his church suspension.

The prosecutor said the arrests of the trio along with Kenneth Devries, Wallin's next-door neighbor -- who once worked in a leather fetish and bondage store in San Francisco -- and Michael Nelson, ended a joint DEA and State Police investigation that included wiretaps on Wallin's cellphones, an undercover officer who made purchases from Wallin, surveillance and informants.

Only Nelson has been released after posting $45,000 on a $145,000 bond. A tentative April 18 jury selection date for the group's trial has been set before Senior U.S. District Judge Alfred Covello.

Brian Wallace, a spokesman for the diocese, said church officials knew nothing about Wallin's alleged drug dealing.