Former Schenectady official Carl Olsen arrested in prostitution sting

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SCHENECTADY — The former longtime head of the Schenectady Office of General Services was arrested in a prostitution sting in Schenectady Tuesday.

Carl Olsen, who served in the city from 1991 until leaving in 2014 for a post as director of operations at Empire State Plaza, was one of nine individuals arrested on Tuesday in a Schenectady Police Special Investigations Unit prostitution detail in the area of State Street and Swan Street.

Olsen, 63, was arrested and charged with Patronizing a Prostitute in the third degree, a Class A misdemeanor.

According to allegations from an undercover state trooper from the New York State Police VGNET unit filed in court, Olsen offered the undercover officer $40 to engage in oral sex at approximately 12:01 p.m. on Tuesday.

Olsen, a Scotia resident, retired last year from his position with the state.

The eight additional suspects arrested in the sting were each charged with Class A misdemeanor counts of Patronizing a Prostitute in the third degree: Khalid Ahmed, 36, of Schenectady; Mark Lemire, 50, of Altamont; James Parker, 50, of Schenectady; John Hartley, 72, of Schenectady; Ganga Sukraj, 51, of Schenectady; Cezary Drzymalski, 68, of Schenectady; Samuel Hernandez, 67, of Schenectady; Kenneth Wiley, 57, of Schenectady

Those arrested were processed and released to appear in court later.