Meth Priest Expected to Plead Guilty Tuesday

By Michael P. Mayko
CT Post
April 1, 2013

http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Meth-priest-expected-to-plead-guilty-Tuesday-4400757.php

On Jan. 3, Monsignor Kevin Wallin was prepared to leave on a two-week vacation in London, before authorities arrested him for dealing crystal methamphetamine.

On Tuesday, the 61-year-old Wallin made preparations for a much longer trip -- this one to federal prison for at least 10 years as a result of a guilty plea to participating in a conspiracy to deal the drug.

Wallin, once a charismatic priest with a knack for fundraising, is expected to enter a guilty plea before Senior U.S. District Judge Alfred V. Covello. He is the first of five defendants in the case to plead. The others, including his next-door neighbor and close confidant, Kenneth Devries, and his two meth-addicted California suppliers, Chad McCluskey and Kristen Laschober, and Michael Nelson pleaded not guilty to the conspiracy charge and are awaiting trial.

Assistant U.S. Public Defender Kelly Barrett may seek a reduction to Wallin's prison time by applying for what is known as a "safety valve" sentence often used by substance-abusing first-time offenders. If the remaining four defendants later plead guilty, she may claim also that Wallin's plea helped persuade the others to admit their guilt.

In exchange for Wallin's guilty plea to the conspiracy charge, Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Caruso is expected to ask the judge to dismiss six charges of sales at sentencing.

Wallin, once served as secretary to two bishops in Bridgeport -- Walter W. Curtis and Edward M. Egan, now cardinal. He was later assigned to St. Peter Church in Danbury and to St. Augustine Cathedral in Bridgeport. He was suspended in 2011 and later resigned.