Suspended priest dubbed Monsignor Meth gets 5-year sentence

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A suspended Roman Catholic priest dubbed Monsignor Meth apologized today for running a meth distribution ring and letting down scores of friends and parishioners.

Moments later, Monsignor Kevin Wallin was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison, less than the 10 years he faced but more than the four years he had sought.

"I have never from the day I was arrested denied my guilt," Wallin, 63, said at the sentencing hearing in U.S. District Court in Hartford. "The day I was arrested was a very good day. It took me out of that situation."

Prosecutors had said Wallin received meth in the mail from California suppliers and supplied a New York distributor. He also bought an adult video and sex toy shop named "Land of Oz & Dorothy's Place," apparently to launder profits from the drug ring, they said.

Wallin, who pleaded guilty to a meth conspiracy charge in 2013, has been in jail for 28 months. With time served, he will be behind bars for about three more years.

U.S. District Judge Alfred V. Covello also imposed supervised release of five years. He told Wallin he could "not ignore your decision to infect your community" with meth.

"For you, sir, this is an unhappy day," Judge Covello told Wallin, who was nicknamed Monsignor Meth in media reports.

A psychiatrist who works with drug addicts, a church colleague of Wallin's and several others asked Judge Covello for leniency.