Conn. man who has cancer gets 27 months for role in priest's methamphetamine operation

HARTFORD, Conn. – A Connecticut man who helped a priest sell methamphetamine has been sentenced to 27 months in prison.

Fifty-three-year-old Waterbury resident Kenneth DeVries (DAH'-vreez) was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in Hartford. He pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

DeVries has prostate cancer and had asked to be sentenced to time he'd already spent behind bars. He could've faced up to four years in prison.

Prosecutors say DeVries had a limited role in the conspiracy involving Monsignor Kevin Wallin, who's been nicknamed Monsignor Meth by media outlets.

Wallin pleaded guilty to a drug charge in April. He faces 11 to 14 years in prison.

DeVries has said he looked up to Wallin as a religious leader and someone who was supposed to help him.