NO-SHOW WITNESSES DOOM FELONY PIMPING CASE: MAN FREED WHEN ALLEGED VICTIM, 16, DISAPPEARS

A Los Angeles man charged with offering for sex a 16-year-old Fresno girl he brought to Santa Rosa last month was released from jail Wednesday and all charges against him dropped when witnesses to the case -- including the alleged victim -- failed to appear in court.

Sonoma County Assistant District Attorney Christine Cook said the case "highlights the difficulties" of prosecuting human trafficking, but said her office would "continue diligently to pursue these cases."

Chuncy Tarae Garcia, 32, was arrested April 3 after the girl told Rohnert Park police she'd been picked up in Oakland two weeks earlier and brought to Santa Rosa as a prostitute. When she refused to participate, she was sexually and physically assaulted, and then dropped off in Rohnert Park, she said.

Further investigation led police to the Extended Stay America on Corby Avenue, where a search of two rooms found several woman working for Garcia, police said.

He was arrested and charged with having unlawful intercourse with a minor and pimping a minor, both felonies, authorities said.

But the victim and suspected prostitutes did not appear when they were called to testify at his preliminary hearing on Wednesday, and the judge had to dismiss the case, Cook said.

You can reach Staff Writer Mary Callahan at 521-5249 or mary.callahan@ pressdemocrat.com.