A mother and son worked together to run a South Florida escort enterprise for more than two decades while laundering the prostitution money under the guise of a legitimate real estate business, authorities say.
Margareta Von Lambert, 70, and her son Christopher Jelavic, 48, are charged with money laundering over $100,000 in 12 months and deriving support from the proceeds of prostitution . Broward County Sheriff’s detectives laid out their monthslong investigation into Pretty Woman Escorts in a more than 100-page probable cause arrest affidavit.
The investigation included undercover cops, confidential informants, GPS trackers, hidden cameras and clandestine surveillance operations, one of which entailed a detective witnessing a prostitute and client having sex through an uncovered window, the affidavit said. Detectives noted the escort service had been on law enforcement radar for years, but they have been unable to develop probable cause to make an arrest until now.
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It’s not like the business operated in the shadows. Jelavic and Von Lambert registered the business with the State of Florida’s Sunbiz as “Pretty Woman Escorts Inc.” in 2000, cops said. The business operated from a nondescript office building at 3311 North Dixie Highway in Pompano Beach. It had regular employees, including a front desk person and drivers who would allegedly transport the escorts from the office to meet clients at homes, apartments or hotels and back after the $400 per hour sessions were complete. Cops also reportedly found detailed ledgers that memorialized the transactions of clients that were discarded in the trash…