Rohnert Park prostitution ring case settled, mother and son sentenced

A mother and son convicted of running a prostitution ring that authorities said operated brothels in Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa faced a judge Thursday to receive their punishment.

David Romesburg, 38, was sentenced to 16 years in state prison and his mother, Fay Romesburg, was sentenced to ?12 months in jail and placed on probation for three years, according to a press release by the District Attorney’s Office. Both are Santa Rosa residents.

Superior Court Judge Brad DeMeo required the son to register as a sex offender for life. David Romesburg pleaded no contest in August to felony charges of pimping, pandering and money laundering and received the maximum sentence under an agreement reached with prosecutors, according to the press release. He also admitted to having been previously convicted of statutory rape in 1999, a strike offense under the state’s three-strikes law.

“It is fitting that today’s sentence was handed down during Human Trafficking Awareness Month,” District Attorney Jill Ravitch said in a statement Thursday. “The problem of sex trafficking is not exclusive to (the) third world and large urban settings. It can and does happen in this community.”

Fay Romesburg, 59, also pleaded no contest to one felony account of criminal pandering last year, prosecutors said. She has already served half of her jail term awaiting trial.

The Romesburgs for 10 years operated a wide-reaching prostitution ring in the county involving dozens of adult women, prosecutors described in the release. Together they managed all aspects of the victims’ sex work.

Rohnert Park police, who led the investigation into the Romesburgs, said the mother and son pimped about 150 women over the 10 years they were in operation. The victims’ ages ranged from 18 to 50, police reported last year.

The Romesburgs first came to the attention of police in late 2017, after a property manager suspected there was a brothel in the 4000 block of Snyder Lane, authorities said in a statement. A second similar call was made earlier to Santa Rosa police about a different house on the ?2300 block of Alvarado Avenue, police said.

Rohnert Park public safety officers arrested the mother-son duo in January 2018 following an undercover investigation. Internet ads for massage services placed by the Romesburgs showed photographs of women and indicated that clients could ask for “upgrades,” police said, and the listed phone number was associated with Fay Romesburg.

An undercover Rohnert Park police officer who set up an appointment for a massage at an apartment rented by David Romesburg was offered a sex act in exchange for money, police stated, which eventually led to the arrests.

From the start, Fay Romesburg denied any wrongdoing. In an interview from jail in 2018, she called the human trafficking charges against her son “political” and the money-laundering charges “ridiculous” because he is financially dependent on her income from writing.

Fay Romesburg insisted there was never any prostitution in the seven-?bedroom Alvarado home, but said she did rent out rooms to women who were self-employed and would have a hard time proving income to most landlords.

“I may go to prison,” she said in the 2018 interview, “but I’ve only helped women by giving them a safe place to live.”

Prosecutors said the Romesburgs laundered profits and the additional benefits they received from the victims’ work through various front businesses and financial institutions.

“David Romesburg operated a sophisticated and intelligent illegal business organization which took advantage of the trust given to him by vulnerable victims,” prosecutors said.

You can reach Staff Writer Alexandria Bordas at 707-521-5337 or alexandria.bordas@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @CrossingBordas.