Buffalo News
Ex-deputy charged in Jesters case
June 09, 2010
By Dan Herbeck NEWS STAFF REPORTER
The ‘Jesters’ are an internal secret society of Freemason Shriners. All of Leaders of the Shrine are members of the Royal Order of Jesters according to biographical information previously contained on the Shriners International Website.
Royal Order of 'Jesters'
Federal prosecutors charged a former Erie County sheriff’s deputy with taking prostitutes across state lines five years ago to attend a convention of a fraternal club.
Michael Lesinski, who retired from police work in November 2008, is the latest person charged in a government probe into human-trafficking activities involving the Royal Order of Jesters.
Lesinski made arrangements for a limousine to transport at least a dozen prostitutes from Buffalo Niagara International Airport in Cheektowaga to a hotel in Niagara Falls, Ont., in April 2005, according to charges filed by the U. S. attorney’s office.
Niagara Falls was the site of a Jesters convention — known as a “book” — for Jesters from across the United States, FBI Special Agent Jennifer Amo said in court papers.
Retired State Supreme Court Justice Ronald H. Tills—who is now in prison — was in charge of transportation for the event, Amo said.
“This transportation was for [Jesters] members and the ‘Jester Girls’ [prostitutes],” Amo said in court papers. “Tills delegated that duty to Michael Lesinski, a member of the [Jesters] and then an active deputy sheriff with the Erie County Sheriff’s Department.”
Lesinski is charged with conspiring to violate the Mann Act, a federal law that prohibits transporting people across state lines for prostitution.
The former road deputy, who was with the Sheriff’s Office for 21 years, is expected to appear before Magistrate Judge