Prosecutors say a San Diego woman’s perverse prank involving a sexually-explicit advertisement that solicited rape crossed the line, and could land her in prison.

A felony complaint against Kathy Rowe explained how her anger and jealousy over the sale of a home she wanted to buy in the Carmel Valley area prompted her outrageous behavior.



Rowe admits she became extremely angry when the home she wanted was sold to another family. Prosecutors say Rowe reacted by making life a living hell for the new owners -- a wife and husband.

According to the complaint, Rowe impersonated the wife and posted a sexually-explicit, online advertisement for the "Carmel Valley Freak Show."

The graphic ad encouraged interested parties to contact the woman for sexual favors of all types while the woman’s husband was not at home.

WARNING - Graphic Content: Read the full complaint against Rowe

The language Rowe used, as detailed in the complaint, was crude and very specific about the types of sex acts the woman would engage in with male visitors.

Two men actually responded to the bogus ad. Rowe, again impersonating the new owner of the Carmel Valley home, told them to go the woman's home and gave them the address.

In back and forth communication, she told one man: "I also love to be surprised and have a man just show up at the door and force his way in the door and on me, totally taking me while I say no."

“Just stop by anytime Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.,” Rowe told both men. “I like the element of surprise.”

One of the men actually showed up at the home.

And that's why prosecutors say Rowe crossed the line.

Rowe was charged with soliciting forcible rape and forcible sodomy, and other crimes.

However, a Superior Court judge dismissed the most serious of those charges before trial, saying that he didn’t have a strong suspicion that Rowe “had the specific intent to cause the two men to commit any kind of sexual assault” on the woman who bought that house.

The district attorney’s office disagreed, and appealed the judge’s ruling.

And in a recent opinion, the Fourth District Court of Appeal, in a split decision, reinstated those criminal charges.

The justices noted that the evidence in this case “... creates a reasonable inference Rowe intended the men to take indecent liberties with, lay hold of, or kiss the victim against her will when they made contact with the victim.”

Prosecutors say Rowe’s alleged vendetta against the family that outbid her for the home went further.

In addition to the ad prank, she also sent more than $1,000 worth of unsolicited magazines and books to the victim's home, posted an online announcement for a high school New Year's Eve party at the home and advertised a free Mexican fireworks giveaway at the home on the fourth of July.

The complaint says Rowe also listed the victim’s home for sale, sent Valentine’s Day cards under the victim’s husband’s name to other women in the neighborhood and had members of religious groups visit the home.

NBC 7 could not reach Kathy Rowe for comment Wednesday, but her lawyer said Rowe's actions were nothing more than "prankish behavior," which she deeply regrets.

Court documents state that when law enforcement officers interviewed Rowe, she initially denied committing all of the acts. She later allegedly admitted to the acts, calling them “pranks” and denied any intent to hurt the victim or the victim’s husband.