Pennsylvania- The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Thursday announced the sentencing of an individual convicted of operating a multi-state, internet-based prostitution, money laundering, and identity theft operation.

According to United States Attorney Peter J. Smith, Roger Sedlak, 47, formerly of Perkasie, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to a total of 145 months in prison and a fine of $5,000. The sentence, imposed by Senior United States District Judge William W. Caldwell, included a sentence of 121 months for the prostitution and money laundering charges followed by a consecutive sentence of 24 months for the identity theft.

In June 2010, Sedlak pleaded guilty to four counts of a superseding indictment: (1) conspiracy to commit prostitution, and to persuade, coerce, and entice interstate travel for the purpose of prostitution; (2) knowingly persuading, inducing, enticing, and coercing individuals to travel interstate to engage in prostitution; (3) aggravated identity theft in connection with wire fraud; and (4) money laundering.

Smith said that the charges stemmed from an investigation by the Harrisburg offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation that revealed Sedlak began operating an “escort service” known as Diamond Escorts through the Internet.

Sedlak pleaded guilty to devising a scheme through which women would apply to be “escorts” and would have to meet personally and have sex with Sedlak to be accepted. Clients submitted personal information online to gain access to the service. Smith said that Sedlak held himself out as an executive of a non-existent airline known as CQ Air.

Using various aliases, Sedlak would rent rooms at a variety of local hotels claiming that he was using them for airline business. The “escort service” actually was a prostitution operation through which appointments could be made to purchase sex for cash. Prostitutes would travel from various states to Pennsylvania to engage in prostitution and that their earnings would be split with Sedlak.

Smith said the aggravated identity theft charges stemmed from Sedlak’s unauthorized use of the identity information of another person to set up accounts with NetSpend Corporation, a pre-paid credit card provider. Smith said Sedlak would set up accounts with the stolen identity information, deposit proceeds of the prostitution operation into the accounts and then use the NetSpend cards to rent hotel rooms and make other purchases for the prostitution operation.

The money laundering charge resulted from Sedlak’s financial transactions using proceeds of the prostitution operation in an effort to conceal the true nature of those proceeds.

Smith thanked the Harrisburg offices of the FBI and IRS-CI for their excellent investigative work. Smith said, “In sentencing Sedlak, Judge Caldwell noted that Sedlak had been involved in fraudulent activities for his entire adult life. The investigative efforts of FBI Special Agent Timothy Lynch and IRS-CI Special Agent Christopher Kegerreis were outstanding in this case. Their hard work laid the groundwork for this very successful prosecution. My thanks goes to them for their tenacity and professionalism. The sentence imposed today should send a resounding message to those who would engage in similar fraudulent activity that the punishment for making those choices is severe indeed.”

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James Clancy.

from www.mcall.com – HARRISBURG — The escort service Roger Sedlak started in 2007 was a last-ditch effort to save his family’s Hilltown Township home, he told a judge during his sentencing hearing Thursday in federal court.

The fake airline he used as a front for the prostitution business was the most recent fraud in Sedlak’s career as a scam artist, countered Assistant U.S. Attorney James Clancy.

And although Sedlak’s wife described him as a devoted husband and loving father, U.S. District Judge William W. Caldwell said he saw few redeeming qualities in the man.

Caldwell sentenced Sedlak to 12 years in federal prison followed by 10 years of supervised release for his role as leader of the multistate online prostitution ring that involved as many as 42 women.

“I must agree with the government that the defendant is a fraud. His entire life seems to have been fraudulently lived,” Caldwell said.

“The way you’ve lived has finally caught up to you.”

Sedlak, 50, pleaded guilty in June 2010 to conspiracy, inducing and coercing individuals to travel in interstate commerce to engage in prostitution, aggravated identity theft and money laundering.

His wife, Marianna Sedlak, and Kelli Kaylor, who worked as a scheduler for the escort service and then as a prostitute, pleaded guilty in October 2009 to withholding information about a crime. They were each sentenced to probation.

Roger and Marianna Sedlak started Diamond Escorts in January 2007. Clients would register online so that the service could notify them when certain women were available in their area.

Roger Sedlak created a fake airline called CQ Air, renting an office at Harrisburg International Airport and advertising for pilots and mechanics. He used the airline as cover to reserve hotel rooms, saying they were for airline crew members. Instead he used the rooms for encounters between escorts and customers.

The Sedlaks and Kaylor ran the business for two years until, with federal agents on his tail, Roger Sedlak leaped from the second story window of an Albany, N.Y., hotel and fled with an injured ankle and $6,000 in earnings from one of his prostitutes.

In a tearful plea for leniency, Sedlak told Caldwell the decision to start an escort service was one of desperation. Raised in North Bergen, N.J., Sedlak said his parents gave him everything.

“I wanted to do the same for my children,” he said. “When we started this business, it was because we were pushed to the wall.”

Sedlak also said he objected to the characterization of the women who worked for him as prostitutes.

“Everyone needed money who came to work for us,” he said. “We gave them a safe place to work.”

Marianna Sedlak told the judge that their four children are traumatized by their father’s incarceration — Roger Sedlak has been in prison since 2009.

Sedlak’s attorney, Gerald Lord of York, argued that Sedlak should be sentenced to time served because the prostitution offenses involved consenting adults. For that reason, Lord said, Sedlak should not be sentenced to register as a sex offender.

The prosecutor, Clancy, said the court heard overwhelming testimony from agents, prostitutes and Sedlak’s family that led to the conclusion that Sedlak is “an utter fraud.” Even Sedlak’s brothers said they don’t trust him, Clancy said.

Clancy noted that Sedlak lied to his wife, telling her that he was a former vice president of United Airlines.

Clancy also objected to Sedlak’s claim he started the escort service with moral reservations. Sedlak required each of the women who applied to work for Diamond Escorts to audition by having sex with him so that he could assess their performance, Clancy said.

“It does not appear that the defendant has engaged in a single legitimate activity in his adult life,” Clancy said.