The former mayor of a Louisiana city has been convicted of raping a 16-year-old boy during a party at her house while she was still in office.
Misty Roberts, 43, faces sentences of up to 10 and seven years in prison after a jury in the municipality of DeRidder on Tuesday found her guilty of two felonies: carnal knowledge of a juvenile – or statutory rape – as well as indecent behavior with a minor.
Jurors deliberated less than an hour at the conclusion of a seven-day trial during which they heard testimony about how she sexually assaulted an underage boy while both had been drinking alcohol heavily during a July 2024 pool party at her home well into her second term as DeRidder’s top elected official.
On the final day of the trial, the victim testified that – despite imbibing so much he vomited – Roberts “flirted” with him by the pool and began kissing him, the local news outlet KPLC recounted. The boy, who at the time was too young to be able to legally consent to sex with Roberts, testified that she eventually took him upstairs and raped him, KPLC added.
Roberts’s two children and nephew testified that they saw her and the victim together, though they didn’t witness the rape. The victim described hearing Roberts argue with her son and yell: “Go fight your friend – he’s the one who did it,” KPLC noted.
A driver for the delivery service DoorDash testified that he brought the emergency contraceptive Plan B to Roberts’s home afterward. Testimony established that Roberts also instructed her children and nephew to lie about what they saw, even texting one of them: “Lie ‘til you die.”
Roberts’s ex-husband, Duncan Clanton, testified that she confessed directly to him that she had committed the crime and had been caught by their children.
A criminal complaint that was later filed as part of the case and reported by the Daily Mail purportedly cited text messages from Roberts to Clanton that read: “I fucked up. And I respect you enough to tell you.”
KPLC reported that another text from Roberts to Clanton mentioned during the trial said: “I can’t keep hurting others, friends and family. Lord knows I’ve done enough.”
Her sentencing is tentatively scheduled for 17 April.
Roberts resigned as DeRidder’s mayor one day after authorities began investigating a complaint that she had raped a minor. Her resignation letter omitted any mention of that investigation.
She later made $75,000 bail to await her trial from out of custody.
In October, in an unrelated case, her 40-year-old brother, Brandon Lee Roberts, pleaded guilty to raping two people: an underage girl and a young woman. He subsequently received a 42-year prison sentence.
Misty Roberts in 2018 made history by becoming the first woman ever elected as mayor of DeRidder. She won a second four-year term in 2022.
She had spoken publicly in May 2024 to the Louisiana news outlet Best of SWLA about enduring “a rough few years”, in part because of two hurricanes that affected her community, a divorce and the death of someone close to her.
“I’ve never been able to just be … mayor,” Roberts was quoted as saying.
Roberts, who did not list a political party affiliation, also told the outlet she aspired to run for a third term in a mayoral primary election to be held in May.
DeRidder is home to about 10,000 people just east of Louisiana’s border with Texas. After Roberts’s resignation, the city elected its first Black mayor, Michael D Harris.
• In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453 or visit their website for more resources and to report child abuse or DM for help. For adult survivors of child abuse, help is available at ascasupport.org. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International
