Santa Rosa man walks free, gets probation for attack that permanently disfigured victim
A Santa Rosa man who sexually assaulted and bludgeoned his victim, leaving her permanently disfigured, was sentenced to probation Wednesday instead of state prison over the objection of prosecutors and prison officials.
The Sonoma County District Attorney's Office said in a press release that 38-year-old Trevor Colombano pleaded no contest to charges including mayhem, assault with a deadly weapon, and sexual battery in an Oct. 2023 attack near Howarth Park.
The victim was taking her dog for a walk and had just left her Sonoma Avenue apartment Colombano approached her and rubbed his erect penis on her buttocks, the District Attorney's Office said. When the woman tried to avoid him, Colombano began beating her with a closed fist and then used a landscaping rock to repeatedly smash her in the face, the DA's Office said.
The attack happened within view of the victim's 13-year-old daughter and 13-year-old cousin and ended when two bystanders wrestled Colombano to the ground and held him until police arrived. The DA's Office said the woman was left with lacerations to her scalp and a full-thickness laceration to her lip, requiring 17 sutures and five staples, and leaving her permanently disfigured.
The victim, who moved out of California after the attack, urged the judge to impose a prison sentence and gave the following statement to the court Wednesday before Colombano was sentenced:
"When you have a stranger attack you in the way I was attacked, it felt like my ability to be strong was taken away from me. I have cried more in the last six months than I have in my entire lifetime ... my daughter and my little cousin, both thirteen at the time, had to witness the whole thing ... I cannot even put into words the feeling of not being able to protect yourself or your child at the same time."
The DA's Office had asked that Colombano be sentenced to the maximum prison sentence of nine years, in addition to 18 months in county jail, and the office made no sentencing agreements following his plea. At Wednesday's sentencing hearing, the court's Probation Department also recommended a prison sentence, noting "the defendant is statutorily limited from receiving probation and we cannot, even after much effort considering the complexities, favorable, and mitigating factors involved in this case, identify any factors that mark this matter an unusual case for probation consideration."
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation also recommended a prison sentence, the DA's Office said.
However, Judge Dana Simonds disagreed with the recommendations and, citing Colombano's cannabis consumption, stress and mental health issues, sentenced him to probation, allowing for his release from custody, according to the press release.
"Justice was not served in this case," said District Attorney Carla Rodriguez in a prepared statement. "This woman will be permanently scarred for the rest of her life, both physically and emotionally. Her daughter and niece's sense of safety and well-being will never be the same. Mr. Colombano is a menace to public safety, period, and should be sitting in prison. That won't happen. As there is no further action legally allowable for our office, the community, and more importantly, the victims will have to live with the consequences of this sentence. I am incredibly disappointed in the outcome of this case."
CBS News Bay Area has sent an email to Sonoma County Superior Court seeking a statement from Simonds.
In February 2024, the DA's Office said in a press release that Simonds sentenced a repeat felony DUI offender to probation for a second time over prosecutors' objections. The man had been on felony probation at the time of his most recent arrest.