Louisiana Mayor Sentenced: ‘Predator With Hair Extensions’
A judge handed down what many in the courtroom considered a lenient punishment Tuesday to a disgraced Louisiana mayor convicted of sexually abusing a teenage boy, allowing her to walk away with just 90 days behind bars despite a 10-year sentence hanging over her head.
Misty Roberts, 44, the former two-term mayor of DeRidder, stood before Judge Kent Savoie at the Beauregard Parish Courthouse as he delivered the suspended sentence following her felony convictions on two counts — indecency with a minor and carnal knowledge of a minor — each carrying five years.
Rather than making Roberts serve the full decade, Savoie structured the punishment to keep her out of prison as long as she completes psychological counseling and submits to random drug and alcohol screening.
She must also pay a $5,000 fine, cover $300 in prosecution costs, and maintain total distance from the teenage victim and his entire family.
A $150,000 bond was available to Roberts that would have freed her while she explored an appeal, but her attorney confirmed she passed on the option.
The underlying incident took place at a birthday pool party Roberts hosted on July 20, 2024, while still serving as mayor.
Trial evidence included a photograph captured by a partygoer and testimony from Roberts’s own children, who witnessed events through a window.
The victim told jurors, “While it was happening, I couldn’t feel my body.” A jury needed less than an hour to convict her at a March retrial after an earlier proceeding ended in mistrial.
Roberts made history in 2018 as DeRidder’s first female mayor and secured a second term in 2022. She resigned shortly before her August 2024 arrest.
She is now classified as a Tier 1 registered sex offender, and her children have lived with Clanton since December 2024, with visits requiring his approval.
Her brother, Brandon Lee Roberts, 40, received a 32-year prison sentence in November for raping two women, one of whom was 13 at the start of the abuse.
Misty Roberts, 44, the former two-term mayor of DeRidder, stood before Judge Kent Savoie at the Beauregard Parish Courthouse as he delivered the suspended sentence following her felony convictions on two counts — indecency with a minor and carnal knowledge of a minor — each carrying five years.
Rather than making Roberts serve the full decade, Savoie structured the punishment to keep her out of prison as long as she completes psychological counseling and submits to random drug and alcohol screening.
She must also pay a $5,000 fine, cover $300 in prosecution costs, and maintain total distance from the teenage victim and his entire family.
A $150,000 bond was available to Roberts that would have freed her while she explored an appeal, but her attorney confirmed she passed on the option.
The underlying incident took place at a birthday pool party Roberts hosted on July 20, 2024, while still serving as mayor.
Trial evidence included a photograph captured by a partygoer and testimony from Roberts’s own children, who witnessed events through a window.
The victim told jurors, “While it was happening, I couldn’t feel my body.” A jury needed less than an hour to convict her at a March retrial after an earlier proceeding ended in mistrial.
Roberts made history in 2018 as DeRidder’s first female mayor and secured a second term in 2022. She resigned shortly before her August 2024 arrest.
She is now classified as a Tier 1 registered sex offender, and her children have lived with Clanton since December 2024, with visits requiring his approval.
Her brother, Brandon Lee Roberts, 40, received a 32-year prison sentence in November for raping two women, one of whom was 13 at the start of the abuse.
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