CLEARLAKE — Judge Stephen O. Hedstrom sentenced a former Lake County resident accused of a felony sex act with a minor to 240 days in prison and five years of formal felony probation Wednesday morning.
After her Aug. 11, 2005 arrest, 30-year-old Napa resident Jeannette Ann Romo was originally charged with 11 felony counts of sexual acts with both male and female minors between the ages of 15 and 17, all of whom were Romo”s relatives.
Romo accepted a plea bargain offered by the Lake County District Attorney”s office in March, pleading guilty to oral copulation on a 15-year-old boy in Mendocino County and allowing the remaining 10 counts to be dropped.
The sex acts Romo was originally accused of spanned the time period of 1998 through 2000 while she was still married and allegedly took place not only in Lake County, but in Mendocino and Contra Costa counties as well. Both counties released jurisdiction to Lake County to lawfully prosecute their charges.
Witnesses in the preliminary hearing in December of last year testified that some of the incidents in Romo”s original litany of charges took place in the presence of her elementary school-aged children, of whom Romo gained full custody in her 2002 divorce from Lake County resident Anthony Romo after alleging that he brutally attacked her.
According to Deputy District Attorney Susan Krones, who prosecuted the case, the facts around the dismissed counts were considered by the court in Romo”s sentencing, but did not increase the sentence.
Romo had faced a maximum of three years in prison.
“There”s a lot of different factors that go into deciding whether or not to have a plea bargain,” said Krones Wednesday, explaining why the plea bargain was offered. “In this case, because the last incidents happened in 2000, a lot of the victims are now adults, which is not in and of itself a problem. But if it comes down to doing a trial, the victims would have to testify.” Krones explained that while she believed all of the victims in this case were willing to testify, getting them to court would have been logistically and psychologically difficult.
Two of the now-adult victims reside in the United Kingdom, she said, and one is in the military. “The bottom line is that you have to prove each count beyond a reasonable doubt. Then you have the consideration of putting the victims through having to testify, and that can be traumatic,” said Krones.
After Romo plead guilty March 16 and subsequently turned herself over to custody June 16, she was sent to the Central California Women”s Facility in Chowchilla the largest female correctional facility in the United States for evaluation by the California Department of Corrections, a necessary step in considering probation in Romo”s sentencing.
As part of her probation, Romo will spend 78 more days in the county jail, is not allowed to be alone with minors other than her own children and must stay 100 feet away from any school other than those attended by her children. Romo”s jail time is reduced from the 240 days by 162 days of credit for jail time spent before sentencing, including additional quarter-day credits earned for good behavior and work detail.
Krones said based on that, she expects Romo may be out of prison sometime in February, at which time she could go to prison if she violates her probation. “Obviously if she was to violate by committing a new sex offense to a minor, that would probably result in her being sent to prison,” said Krones.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
