http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp...wsdate=3/8/2009

Officials: Sting halts sex 'airline'
Raid at Latham hotel grounds alleged prostitution scheme

By ROBERT GAVIN, Staff writer
First published in print: Saturday, March 7, 2009

ALBANY — Roger Sedlak apparently never got his "airline" off the ground in Pennsylvania.


But his reputed mile-high club made quite a landing in Latham last month — right down to Sedlak slipping out a hotel window on Route 9 as investigators cracked an alleged multi-state prostitution ring.

Now the 47-year-old Pennsylvania man, his wife and an alleged co-conspirator all face up to 35 years in prison for allegedly employing a new way of doing business for the world's oldest profession.

Federal prosecutors in Pennsylvania say Sedlak used a non-existent airline, dubbed CQ Air, to arrange sex-for-cash trysts in hotels across state lines. They say the so-called executive also masqueraded a business called Diamond Escorts that used the Internet, employing women from Colorado to Bosnia as alleged prostitutes.

And, investigators say, Sedlak had those women audition with him before going to work.

On Feb. 24, Sedlak and his crew were working out of the Hampton Inn on Route 9 in Latham when the women were busted by undercover cops with the Albany County Sheriff's Department.

Sedlak, who lives in Perkasie, Pa, about 30 minutes outside Philadelphia, escaped from the hotel by jumping from the second-floor window, police said.

Police said the "johns" who used the Craigslist Web site to arrange sex were actually undercover cops with the Sheriff's Department.

They arrested three women on prostitution charges — two from Illinois, another from Colorado. They learned the crew arrived in Newburgh, Orange County, earlier that week, after Sedlak drove them from Pennsylvania.

Federal prosecutors say Sedlak required customers to submit personal information before gaining access to his service.

According to a June 2006 article in the Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa., Sedlak was offering service for CQ Air at the Harrisburg International Airport. It was to start that summer and run through the summer of 2007.

The newspaper reported that, according to a grant application for federal funding, CQ Air sought $100,000, which included $75,000 from the Federal Aviation Authorities AA and $12,500 each from two counties.

There was no sign it ever started and the federal government is calling it a bogus operation.

"Roger Sedlak held himself out as an executive of a non-existent airline known as CQ Air," the U.S. Attorney's office in Harrisburg, Pa, said. " Using various aliases, he would rent rooms at a variety of local hotels claiming that he was using them for airline business."

Sedlak's escorts split the proceeds with him, officials said. They described his wife, Marianna Sedlak, as the primary scheduler. They said Kelli "Kayla" Kaylor, 23, of Niantic, Ill., who was at the hotel Feb.. 24, started this year.

Police said Kaylor helped set up the appointments.

The three were indicted Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania's Middle District. None could be reached.

The federal government identified the crime as "transporting and causing the transportation in interstate commerce of an individual with the intent that the individual engage in prostitution, persuading and enticing an individual to engage in interstate travel for the purpose of prostitution, and conspiracy to commit those offenses."

Sedlak is no stranger to the law. State correction records show past convictions for theft in Florida, Ohio and New Jersey.

Also arrested in Albany County — but not facing federal charges — were two escorts.

Jacqueline McRae, 39, known as "Lexi," of Henderson, Colo., was charged with misdemeanor prostitution, as was Ivana Ferizovic, 21, of Chicago, also known as "Natasha."

Kaylor was charged with felony promoting prostitution in that case.

Director of News Research Sarah Hinman contributed to this report. Robert Gavin can be reached at 434-2403 or rgavin@timesunion.com