Modified: April 5, 2022 4:18pm
Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announces that 55-year-old Wallace Waliczek of Lancaster was sentenced this afternoon before Lancaster Town Court Justice Anthony J. Cervi to three years of probation.
Waliczek became the subject of an investigation following the arrest of his wife. Investigators uncovered evidence that determined the defendant was directly involved in the crime and that he knowingly advanced or profited from prostitution. The defendant, who was employed as a jail deputy with the Erie County Sheriff’s Office, was off-duty at the time of the crime.
On August 16, 2019, the defendant’s wife was arrested after she allegedly posted an online advertisement seeking money in exchange for sexual relations. An undercover officer with the Lancaster Police Department responded and arranged a meeting with the defendant’s wife at a parking lot on Transit Road near William Street. The evidence showed that the defendant was present at the time of the arranged meeting and surveilled the transaction while sitting inside of another vehicle in the parking lot.
The defendant’s wife, 32-year-old Melissa A. Waliczek of Lancaster, was arraigned on one count of Prostitution (Class “B” misdemeanor). The case remains pending in Human Trafficking Court.
Waliczek pleaded guilty to one count of Promoting Prostitution in the Fourth Degree (Class “A” misdemeanor) on January 26, 2022. The defendant pleaded guilty to the only charge against him on the day before his jury trial was set to begin.
DA Flynn commends the Lancaster Police Department, Erie County Sheriff’s Office and the Western District of New York Human Trafficking Task Force for their work in the investigation.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Hilarie L. Henry of the Felony Trials Bureau and Assistant Chief Cathleen M. Roemer of the Special Victims/Domestic Violence Bureau.