East Rockaway woman arrested for prostitution

An East Rockaway woman was selling more than just hot dogs from her wagon, according to police, who arrested Catherina Scalia, 45 on May 3 and charged her with offering to engage in a sexual act with an undercover detective.

According to the Nassau County Police Department’s Narcotics Vice Bureau, was charged with prostitution and was arraigned at First District Court in Hempstead on May 4. She pleaded not guilty.

The arrest of Scalia, a reported mother of four, followed an investigation by detectives from the Narcotic Vice Squad, police said. The detectives became aware that Scalia was using a hot dog vending truck, on Sunrise Highway in Baldwin, to solicit customers for sex, Detective Kevin Smith said. She displayed cards with images of women strippers, Smith explained, and told interested customers to meet her at her home, where they paid her to perform sexual acts at her Maxwell Street residence in exchange for money, police said.

“This is disgusting,” said a female neighbor. “I can’t believe this has been going on in East Rockaway — and right under our noses!”

Another resident, who claimed to have known Scalia since childhood, said that she had been involved in this activity for many years. “She used to be such a beautiful young woman,” the resident said. “But there was always something not quite right there.”

According to numerous news reports verified by Smith, Scalia and another woman — who has since died in a car accident — were arrested in late December 2004 for similar activity at a hot dog stand at Sunrise Highway and Rockwood Avenue in Baldwin.