North Bay woman who allegedly ran sex ring with her son is a prolific feminist erotica writer

David and Fay Romesburg were arrested for running a prostitution ring out of a Rohnert Park apartment and their Santa Rosa home. David and Fay Romesburg were arrested for running a prostitution ring out of a Rohnert Park apartment and their Santa Rosa home. Photo: Provided By The�Rohnert Park Department Of Public Safety Photo: Provided By The�Rohnert Park Department Of Public Safety Image 1 of / 17 Caption Close North Bay woman who allegedly ran sex ring with her son is a prolific feminist erotica writer 1 / 17 Back to Gallery

A Rohnert Park woman who is accused of running a 150-woman prostitution ring with her son is also a prolific author of feminist erotica, a crime reporter at the Santa Rosa Press Democrat discovered Tuesday during a jailhouse interview.

The woman, 59-year-old Fay Ruth Romesburg, is accused of working with her son David Scott Romesburg, 38, to lure women into sex work and then arranging appointments for them at three properties, one in Rohnert Park and two in Santa Rosa, taking a cut of their earnings in the process, police said in January.

David Romesberg is also accused of forcing one woman to continue working until she paid a debt to him, and withholding money from others to meet their basic needs unless they engaged in sex with him or sex work.

In the interview, the elder Romesburg said she is "deeply concerned with female sexual empowerment" and referred to laws against sex work as a "continued assault on women's rights."

She denied that any prostitution took place in the home on Alvarado Avenue, which Santa Rosa police alleged was a brothel.

The investigation into the duo began when the manager of an apartment complex on Snyder Lane in Rohnert Park told law enforcement they suspected the apartment rented by the Romesburgs may have been used for prostitution, according to police.

Both Romesburgs appeared in court Monday but have not yet entered pleas — they were reportedly given extra time to look for a private attorney. County records show her bail is set at $245,000, and his is $250,000.

Fay Romesburg told the Press Democrat that she is a writer by trade who has penned various erotic and sex-related works under the pen name F.R.R. Mallory.

Her titles include "The Kinky Feminist," "Extreme Space: The Domination and Submission Handbook" and "Never Trust an Angel." According to her Amazon.com author bio, she has degrees in English and psychology from UC Berkeley and her work has also appeared in an anthology of vampire erotica called "Bites of Passion."

"Every American carries the residues of Puritanical sexual mores into any act of contact with other humans including basic touch," she wrote in the introduction to "The Kinky Feminist. "Still, our history isn't enough of a burden upon our sexual expression, we are constantly told we need more laws to criminalize and legislate our sexual activities."

"We need to stop treating these women as victims," she said of sex workers in her jailhouse interview. "They are highly intelligent and educated."

Filipa Ioannou is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at fioannou@sfchronicle.com and follow her on Twitter