Priest Expected to Plead Guilty in Meth Case
By Michael P. Mayko
HARTFORD -- For 15 years, Kevin Wallin heard confessions as a Roman Catholic monsignor and pastor, first at St. Peter Church in Danbury, then at St. Augustine's Cathedral in Bridgeport. On April 2, Wallin is expected to make his own confession before Senior U.S. District Judge Alfred V. Covello and plead guilty to participating in a conspiracy to distribute the highly addictive crystal methamphetamine in Connecticut, according to court documents. "Monsignor Wallin's guilty plea will represent an important step in his coming to terms with his own actions and their impact on others," said Brian Wallace, a spokesman for the Bridgeport Diocese. "It is a difficult moment for all of us, but we hope it is also the first step in rebuilding his life. We pray that he moves toward healing and wholeness." Once the 61-year-old priest, dubbed Monsignor Meth, admits his role in the conspiracy, he will face a mandatory minimum of 10 years in federal prison. However, it is expected that Assistant U.S. Public Defender Kelly Barrett will seek to reduce Wallin's prison time by applying for what is known as a "safety valve" sentence for first-time federal offenders such as Wallin. It is also expected she will use his addiction to crystal meth as an entry point. Barrett, who once clerked for U.S. District Judge Stefan Underhill in Bridgeport, could not be reached for comment Tuesday night. In exchange for Wallin's guilty plea to the conspiracy charge, it is expected that Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Caruso will ask Covello to dismiss six charges of sales at sentencing. Wallin previously served as the secretary to two Bridgeport bishops -- Edward Egan, now a cardinal, and William Lori, now Archbishop of Baltimore. He was ordained in 1984 and became a priest after spending eight years as a college administrator and a teacher at Greenwich Catholic Middle School. Wallin is the first of five defendants to plead guilty in the crystal meth case. During pre-trial detention hearings, Caruso accused Wallin of being in charge of a crystal meth distribution ring that operated out of his second-floor apartment in a four-family home on Golden Hill Street in Waterbury, and the apartment of his next-door neighbor, Kenneth Devries, who once worked in sex and leather fetish shops in San Francisco. Caruso claimed Wallin received mailed shipments of the drugs from Chad McCluskey and Kristen Laschober, a California couple who met in a drug rehabilitation program. Sources said the high-quality meth was made in laboratories operated by a Mexican drug cartel. Documents seized from Wallin's apartment during his Jan. 3 arrest indicate he pocketed at least $300,000 from August to December 2012, according to Caruso. "Our evidence is very strong," the prosecutor said during Wallin's bond hearing. "There were six controlled purchases by an undercover police officer." Caruso also said he obtained a 30-day wiretap on Wallin's three cellphones "in which the nature of the calls is very explicit and left little to the imagination in terms of quantity and dollar amounts." Wallin was getting $60 for a quarter gram; $575 for an eight-ball, which is 3.75 grams and $1,000 for seven grams, according to officials. Among the documents seized during Wallin's arrest was "a six-page, color-coded, detailed description and accounting of how much meth was shipped," allegedly from Laschober and McCluskey, and "how much Wallin paid," Caruso said. Devries, McCluskey, Laschober and a fourth person, Michael Nelson, have all pleaded not guilty to the conspiracy charge and are awaiting trial.
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