The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
‘Monsignor Meth’ fate in limbo
HARTFORD — There was a time many believed Monsignor Kevin Wallin was on a fast track to become Bridgeport’s next bishop.
All you had to do was look at his accomplishments: chaplain of the Order of Malta, trustee at Sacred Heart University, head of the Inner City Educational and Charities Foundation, founding member of Connecticut’s AIDS Ministries Program and director of Pope John Paul II Center for Health Care in Danbury.
He even served as secretary to Walter W. Curtis and later Edward Egan, both Bridgeport bishops.
Then there were his homilies—parishioners were so moved they opened their wallets to pay for thousands in renovations and repairs first at St. Peter’s Church in Danbury and then St. Augustine’s Cathedral in Bridgeport during Wallin’s terms as pastor.
On Thursday afternoon Wallin, whose addiction and prior drug dealing earned him the nickname “Monsignor Meth,” may be heading back to federal prison, this time for nine months as a result of his continued use of methamphetamine. His incarceration could be followed by another four years of U.S. Probation supervision.
That’s what U.S. District Court Senior Judge Alfred V. Covello warned Wallin on April 19. At that time Wallin was charged with violating his probation by possessing and using a controlled substance and lying to U.S. Probation Officer Jorge Vargas.
On Aug. 23, Vargas applied for a summons accusing Wallin again with violating the terms of his supervised release.
In the petition, Vargas charged that Wallin again tested positive for amphetamine after being tested Aug. 10 at Connecticut Renaissance Inc.
It was back in June 2011, that Wallin resigned from the church amidst talk of cross-dressing, drug use, sexual acts with men in the rectory and the discovery of sex toys in his room.
Two stints in rehab centers where he was sent by the church did not help.
After his resignation, he cut all ties to the church.
He moved into a secondfloor Waterbury apartment where federal agents say he dealt Mexican-made methamphetamine. Known as crank, crystal and ice on the street, the drug became a household word thanks to “Breaking Bad,” the popular TV series.
Sales of the mind-altering, highly addictive drug proved profitable for the disgraced clergyman. In a four-month period, federal agents believe Wallin took in $300,000 — more than enough to pay for a planned 12-day trip to London.
But that trip was canceled forever when federal agents armed with undercover sales and wiretaps came knocking on his door Jan. 3, 2013. Two years later he was sentenced to 65 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to sell four pounds of methamphetamine.