Sirard Defends Release of Dead Man's Film

WWW- An international porn mogul who is moving forward the release of a film featuring a local man who was found dead in Canada last year said Tuesday that despite efforts to block the film's release, the film cannot be stopped from being sold.

"There are questions morally and ethically, but legally, they can't stop us," Stephan Sirard, owner of French Connection Francaise (FCF), said Tuesday.

The pornographer, who was accompanying Uniontown's Mark Kraynak and another man, Steven Wright, just prior to their suspicious deaths in Canada last year, announced his plans to sell the previously unreleased film featuring the men March 1, despite an outcry of protest from Kraynak's mother.

Sirard said all proceeds from the film are to benefit the biological mother of Wright, Cheryl Crockett.

"I was so upset by this," Janice Kraynak said Friday. "The fact that Cheryl is willing to exploit her dead son for profit, it makes me sick. I cannot stress how mad I am. She is just a business partner. She just sees dollar signs, and I just want answers."

Tuesday, Sirard responded.

"She can't get it through her head. She says this was a murder, but I know in my heart it was an accident. I know I am not involved," Sirard said.

Mark Kraynak, 23, was found Sept. 1, 2005, at the bottom of a rock quarry, along with the body of Wright, 20, of Guernville, Calif., behind the Red Lite After Hours Discotheque, in the city of Laval.

A 10-day search ensued following the Penn State student's disappearance in late August. Investigators were able to trace a cell phone transmitter from Kraynak's phone to near the Red Lite, where the bodies were found at the bottom of a rock ledge.

Authorities initially concluded that the men were likely running from their $40 cab fare when they fell to their deaths in the quarry.

Then in January, chief investigator Guy Lajeunesse said that the case was "almost over" and that there was "no doubt" that the incident was an accident, but investigators have yet to produce a single witness to the incident in what was allegedly a "nighttime hotspot" and despite announcements that the search for the cab driver had narrowed, have yet to find the driver.

Kraynak and Wright were supposed to return to the United States the day they went missing, after spending a few months working for FCF in the Toronto area.

Sirard was accompanying both men in Montreal at the time of the incident.

"When the investigation was over and we knew this was an accident, we invited Cheryl and Mrs. Kraynak, who refused, to discuss our lawsuit," Sirard said Tuesday.

According to Sirard, Crockett is the mother of two daughters, ages 7 and 8, and is currently struggling to survive as a single parent, after her recent divorce, on a fixed income. Sirard said she receives disability compensation.

Sirard and Crockett are also bringing two cases before the Superior Court of Quebec, claiming that Montreal Police were negligent in some of the investigation into the incident and that the rock quarry where the men's bodies were found was at fault for not posting the dangerous drop-off in English.

Sirard said FCF is footing the bill for the suits but that the possible awards to Crockett are not enough to sustain the mother of two.

"She had to sell her house because Steven had helped her make her rent payments and now he isn't here to help," Sirard said. "She needs to be able to survive. So I thought, why don't we release the footage?"

Sirard said the film, "Let's Get it On," was shot over the summer of 2005, while Kraynak and Wright were dancing at a Toronto strip club called Remington's.

"They were dancing in the club and doing one scene a month," Sirard said, noting the film features three scenes with Kraynak and three scenes with Wright.

"See, Steven loved what he was doing and he would have wanted this," Sirard said of the film's release. "We are going to create a college fund for the kids and my agency will not make a penny. My accounting books are open for review."

But despite Sirard's forthrightness regarding his accounts, his decision to release the film seemingly conflicts with earlier statements made by the porn recruiter.

"We are not making money off her son," Sirard said in a January interview. "I have no control of material released or sold prior to his death. The money we have made was when he was still alive."

Also - January, Sirard downplayed any money being garnered by pictures or videos of Kraynak following his death, although the Next Door Male Web site, owned by Sirard, features a photograph of Mark shirtless in the site's masthead.

Sirard, an admitted homosexual, said that pictures and videos of Kraynak that were posted prior to his death on the gay Web site have not and will not be removed. But Sirard did add that he was not displaying any new material following Mark's death.

Sirard said Janice Kraynak contacted him Sunday to discuss the release, but noted that the two could not reach an agreement.

"She just attacked me again and I just said 'OK, Janice, OK. Fine,'" Sirard said Tuesday of the conversation.

Last month, Sirard said that despite the controversy surrounding the model's deaths, FCF is now the largest pornography-modeling agency in the world. And Sirard added that the deaths of Kraynak, Wright and porn star Natel King in 2004 who was also linked to Sirard, have given publicity to his business, enough to have a reality series filmed about Sirard's life and FCF.

He said the show, titled "Web Dream," will begin filming in February and will air on Showcase, the Canadian television equivalent of Showtime or HBO.

"I know at night that I sleep very well," Sirard said. "If I could change everything I would. I would love nothing more than to have my two friends back, but I can't. But in this bad thing, if I can help Steven's two younger sisters, then that is something good."