‘Monsignor Meth’ Kevin Wallin Sentenced To Five Years In Prison

Roman Catholic priest Kevin Wallin, dubbed “Monsignor Meth” by some media outlets, had his day in court.

A federal judge yesterday sentenced Wallin to 65 months behind bars for conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.

The “Breaking Bad’ priest, 63, was accused of locally dealing methamphetamine that he received in the mail from California accomplices and buying a sex shop as a way to launder the profits, according to authorities.

At the time of the arrest, the Connecticut Post claimed that the monsignor was suspended from and later resigned his religious duties in 2011 “after church officials discovered he was a cross-dresser who was having sex in the rectory at Bridgeport’s St. Augustine Cathedral.”

He pleaded guilty to drug charges in April of 2013 following his arrest in January of that year. The priest could have faced up to 11 years in prison. With credit for time served as he was being detained without bond while the case was pending in the court system, he could be out in three years.

“Wallin, who has already served 28 months in jail, was sentenced to five years and five months in prison. With time served, Wallin will be in prison for three more years, followed by five years of supervised release,” NBC Connecticut explained.

About 90 letters poured into Hartford federal court from Wallin’s supporters — who considered him a pillar of the community prior to his fall from grace — asking for leniency, which the presiding judge deemed unprecedented on behalf of a criminal defendant. About 80 people attended the sentenced hearing.

“All that support may have saved Wallin, the fallen priest, from a 10-year prison term,” the Connecticut Post noted.

According to the monsignor’s public defender, Wallin became demoralized after the 2008 financial meltdown that undercut diocese fundraising.

“Wallin turned to methamphetamine as an escape, [the public defender] said, became addicted and began selling drugs to subsidize his habit. She said he was so shamed by his behavior that he was unable to ask for help,” the Hartford Courant reported.

In court yesterday, Wallin said, “I have never from the day I was arrested denied my guilt. The day I was arrested was a very good day. It took me out of that situation.”

“Our humanity is our greatest strength and also our greatest weakness,” Judge Alfred Covello said during the hearing. “We paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and then we become involved in mind-altering chemicals. The court and the law cannot ignore your decision to infect your community with methamphetamine, a horrific drug.”

“Monsignor Meth” Kevin Wallin is still a priest, but the suspension holds, according to a Bridgeport diocese spokesman.

[image via YouTube]