Travel News

Fake Airline Used As Front For Pimp

In the last two years, Roger Sedlak has gone from a self-proclaimed airline entrepreneur to a pimp to a convicted felon.

In the summer of 2006, Sedlak appeared to be a successful airline executive. His new airline, CQ Air, seemed ready to announce plans for service from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to various destinations on the Northeast.

The airline opened an office in the Harrisburg International Airport and placed ads looking for pilots and other personnel. There were also several postings on airplane message boards about pilot classes and routes.

The official CQ Air announcement never ran. Instead, the business only functioned as the public front for Diamond Escorts, an Internet escort business that started in January in 2007 and employed up to 42 women. According to a federal indictment, Sedlak pretended to be an executive of CQ and rented rooms seemingly for airline business and customers, despite the fact that the airline was nonexistent.

The FBI and the IRS were involved in the investigation that brought down Sedlak. After two years in Adams County Prison, Sedlak pled guilty in an emotional speech that blamed the mortgage crisis and poor economic circumstances for his decision to open a prostitution ring.

In court, he said, “When I started this [prostitution] business, it was because I was pushed to the wall. This was the last hope we had to save our home. The people who came to work for us, they were wonderful people. They were never prostitutes. They were hard-working women who had no choice but to raise money the way we did. We gave them a good place to work.”

Sedlak’s wife, Marianna, who was also involved in the business and who received 24 months probation, testified in court that her husband was a good man who made some bad choices.

U.S. Middle District Senior Judge William W. Caldwell was not moved by Sedlak’s argument. In his statement at sentencing last week Caldwell said, “[Sedlak’s] whole life appears have been lived fraudulently.”

Caldwell then sentenced him to 12 years in federal prison followed by 10 years of probation, where he is barred from securing a line of credit or working in a job where he would handle money.

Was Sedlak a family man who was driven to a life of crime by economic circumstances or was he a manipulative con man? Share your opinion in the comments.

By Lily J. Kosner for PeterGreenberg.com.

Related Links: USA Today, AirportBusiness.com, PennLive.com

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