A disgraced American mayor who raped a 16-year-old boy at her own son’s birthday party has been sentenced to just 90 days in jail — a fraction of the 17 years prosecutors sought — after being convicted of two felonies in the same small Louisiana town she once governed.
Misty Roberts, 44, was found guilty in March of statutory rape and indecent behaviour with a minor following an incident at a pool party at her home in DeRidder on 20 July 2024. Judge D. Kent Savoie handed down two five-year suspended sentences at Beauregard Parish Criminal Court on Tuesday, ordering Roberts to serve 90 days in custody, register as a sex offender, pay a $5,000 fine and undergo therapy and regular drug and alcohol testing.
The court heard that Roberts, who was in the middle of her second term as mayor having won re-election with 60 per cent of the vote in 2022, had been heavily intoxicated at her son’s birthday party when she began flirting with his 16-year-old friend and took a photograph with him. The pair then disappeared upstairs. Roberts’ own son and nephew crept up and discovered them having sex — with the son taking a photograph and later telling investigators what he had witnessed. A text message presented to the jury showed the son messaging his mother saying “He is 17,” and telling her his sister was crying. Roberts’ daughter also testified that she saw her mother and the boy together that night.
Roberts’ estranged husband Duncan Clanton testified against her at trial, saying she had confessed the sexual encounter to him the day after it occurred. He also described her as a “cheat” and an “alcoholic” during their subsequent divorce proceedings.
The sentencing hearing was dominated by the victim’s family. His mother delivered a searing statement that addressed Roberts directly. “Danger does not always look like danger. Danger doesn’t always look like a man with candy or a puppy in a van or strangers we tell our kids to beware of. This predator has hair extensions, high heels, Botox and other augmentations,” she said through tears. She accused Roberts of trying to shift blame onto a 16-year-old child and claimed the former mayor had told her family to “lie till you die” about what happened. “You thought so much of yourself in that bikini that night — you knew exactly what you were doing with his mind. He was 16. What hurt almost as much as the initial betrayal was the attempt to shift the blame onto a 16-year-old boy from a 42-year-old woman.”
Judge Savoie acknowledged the gravity of the impact on the victim’s family, saying he had been “substantially touched” by what he heard. But the 90-day sentence drew immediate criticism given that prosecutors had sought the maximum term of 17 years.
The court heard Roberts had endured a turbulent personal period in the lead-up to the offence, having split from her husband and later been in an abusive relationship with another man who died by suicide months before the incident.
