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Fox8, a local news station, reported that after leaving the parish, he purchased an adult specialty and video store called Land of Oz that sold sex toys and adult videos.

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'Monsignor Meth' fails drug test, may go back to prison

Associated Press

HARTFORD, Conn. – Court records say a former Roman Catholic priest dubbed "Monsignor Meth" because he ran a meth distribution ring has failed a drug test and may have to return to prison.

The Hartford Courant reports that court documents show Former Bridgeport Diocese Monsignor Kevin Wallin recently tested positive for amphetamine at the facility where he's been receiving treatment.

Probation officer Jose Vargas is urging the court to suspend Wallin's supervised release.

Wallin is expected to appear before a judge next week. His public defender didn't immediately respond to an email on Saturday.

Wallin was sentenced to 65 months in federal prison and entered a supervised release program in November 2016.

He has failed drug tests before but was given another chance and ordered to complete drug treatment programs.

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‘Monsignor Meth’ fails drug test, may go back to prison

Associated Press Aug 26, 2018

HARTFORD, Connecticut - Court records say a former Roman Catholic priest dubbed “Monsignor Meth” because he ran a meth distribution ring has failed a drug test and may have to return to prison.

The Hartford Courant reports that court documents show Former Bridgeport Diocese Monsignor Kevin Wallin recently tested positive for amphetamine at the facility where he’s been receiving treatment.

Probation officer Jose Vargas is urging the court to suspend Wallin’s supervised release.

“Mr. Wallin has rendered a positive drug test for amphetemine, failing to follow the conditions of supervised release by re-engaging in the illegal use of drugs,” Vargas wrote.

Wallin is expected to appear before Judge Alfred V. Covello on Aug. 30. His public defender didn’t immediately respond to an email on Saturday.

Wallin was sentenced to 65 months in federal prison and entered a supervised release program in November 2016.

He has failed six drug tests before but was given another chance and ordered to complete drug treatment programs.

According to the Hartford Courant, the judge did this over the objections of federal prosecutors.

Wallin had been a prominent priest in the Diocese of Bridgeport, and once served as the personal secretary to bishops Walter Curtis and future-Cardinal Edward Egan. His last position was rector of St. Augustine’s Cathedral in Bridgeport.

He was dismissed from his post in 2011, and went on sabbatical. The New York Times reported after his departure, church officials found adult pornographic videos, sexual toys and leather masks hidden in his rectory.

Fox8, a local news station, reported that after leaving the parish, he purchased an adult specialty and video store called Land of Oz that sold sex toys and adult videos.

According to his 2013 indictment, Wallin was selling nearly $9,000 of meth a week to places as far away as California.

“What he did in the end was shocking and spiraled out of our control,” Brian Wallace, a spokesman for the diocese, told the New York Times in 2013. “When we learned about it we took action immediately and forcefully, and regrettably, given how good a priest he was.”

Crux staff contributed to this report.

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'Monsignor Meth' Fails Another Drug Test, Faces Possible Return To Prison

Dave Altimari Dave Altimari Contact Reporter

Former Bridgeport Diocese Monsignor Kevin Wallin, convicted of dealing methamphetamine, has once again failed a drug test and faces a possible return to prison when he appears before a federal judge next week, court records show.

Wallin’s routine drug test on Aug. 10 at Connecticut Renaissance Inc. where he has undergone treatment, tested positive for the presence of amphetamine, according to a court document submitted Friday by his probation officer Jose Vargas.

“Mr. Wallin has rendered a positive drug test for amphetemine [sic], failing to follow the conditions of supervised release by re-engaging in the illegal use of drugs,” Vargas wrote.

Wallin must appear before Judge Alfred V. Covello on Aug. 30 and faces a possible nine-month prison sentence as well as another 48 months of probation.

Just less than four months ago Covello, over the objections of federal prosecutors, decided to give Wallin another chance even though he had failed six drug tests at that point. Under federal law, Wallin's parole could have been revoked after he failed a third drug test.

Instead of sending him back to prison Covello opted for a plan proposed by federal public defender Kelly M. Barrett, Wallin's attorney, which required Wallin to complete two treatment programs, including a 30-day 12-step program, agree to random urine tests and serve four months of home confinement.

Vargas is once again asking that Wallin’s supervised release be revoked and he be sent back to jail.

Wallin was sentenced to 65 months in a federal prison and five years of supervised release by Covello in 2015. He had been arrested in January 2013 on charges of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.

The arrest stunned the Bridgeport Diocese, where Wallin had been the personal secretary to bishops Walter Curtis and Edward Egan. His last position was that of monsignor of the church's principal parish, St. Augustine's in Bridgeport.

He now receives a pension from the diocese, according to court records.

Wallin served his prison sentence and entered into a supervised release program in November 2016, but within months failed his first drug test, court records indicate. By July 2017, Wallin had failed three times, testing positive for methamphetamine each time, according to court records.

The court ordered him into a rehabilitation treatment program in Harrison, N.Y., for one month. Within four days of leaving that program, he failed another drug test.

Investigations by the state police and others showed that Wallin bought large quantities of methamphetamine from two California dealers and distributed the drug to wholesale and retail customers. The California distributors previously had been given sentences of 60 months and 65 months.

The investigators said there is evidence that Wallin might have been planning to launder thousands of dollars a week in drug money through an X-rated sexual novelty store he was buying with drug profits.

Before his arrest, Wallin had sought municipal approval to open the store in North Haven on behalf of a limited liability corporation known as Rahab and Endor. ln the Bible, Rahab was a prostitute whose life God spared when Joshua and the Israelites destroyed Jericho.