Mother, son arrested in major North Bay prostitution sting
01/28/2018 12:21 pm PST
By Julianne Herrera, KRON
ROHNERT PARK, Calif. -- (KRON) -- A mother and her son were arrested Friday for allegedly running a prostitution ring out of Rohnert Park and Santa Rosa, according to Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety.
Police say they were tipped off by the manager of an apartment complex in the 4000 block of Snyder Ln.
The manager suspected one of their apartments was being used for prostitution.
A neighbor also complained about different men constantly coming and going from one of the apartments.
The apartment was rented by 37-year-old David Romesburg of Santa Rosa.
Santa Rosa PD had also received complaints of prostitution activities occurring at Romesburg's home on Alvarado Ave. in Santa Rosa, where he lived with his mother, 59-year-old Fay Romesburg, and several women who it appeared were being used for prostitution.
During their investigation, authorities found the two had been advertising online as well.
Here is a detailed excerpt from the police report:
Ads were located on the internet offering massage services in Rohnert Park, which stated the services included nude massages and “upgrades” were available. The ads listed a phone number that was found to have been previously associated with Fay Romesburg. Some of the women whose photos were used in the ads offering them for the “massage” services were the women who lived at the Alvarado Ave. home with the Romesburgs. Based on the investigation, a search warrant was obtained for the apartment in Rohnert Park, the home on Alvarado Ave., and a business called Black Cat Industries on Southwest Blvd. that the Romesburgs were about to open listing it as a gaming and karaoke studio.
Yesterday an undercover set up an appointment with a woman listed in one of the ads. He was directed to the David's Rohnert Park apartment, where he was met by a 19-year-old girl.
She offered him sex acts in exchange for “a specified amount of money,” police said.
She was detained by officers who were waiting outside for further questioning.
Officers searched all three suspected locations, and spoke with other women involved:
While talking to some of the women contacted during the operation, Detectives were told that David and Fay Romesburg had recruited them for the prostitution business. Detectives were told David would post the ads for them on line and respond to inquiries to the ads, then tell the women what time to meet the client. The women stated they had to pay a portion of the proceeds from their prostitution acts to David and Fay. One woman also stated David would not allow her to leave the business until she paid off debt he said she owed him. Another woman said David would not allow some of them to have money for certain basic needs unless they conducted prostitution acts or had sex with him, and said David would make them tell him whenever they were leaving the house and where they were going.
Based on the investigation, David and Fay Romesburg were both arrested on charges of pimping and pandering, and David was also arrested for human trafficking.
Both were booked into the Sonoma County Jail.
David is being held on $250,000.00 bail.
Fay is being held on $245,000.00 bail.
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