A former small-town Louisiana mayor broke down in court Tuesday as a jury took less than an hour to find her guilty of having sex with her son’s 16-year-old friend at a booze-fueled pool party. Misty Roberts, 43, now faces up to 17 years in prison and will be forced to register as a sex offender for the rest of her life.
The once-influential independent mayor of DeRidder, a city of roughly 10,000 people near the Texas border, shook her head in disbelief as the verdict was read. She left the Beauregard Parish courthouse on a $100,000 bond, climbing into her BMW without commenting to reporters waiting outside.
It happened in July 2024. Roberts was in her second term as mayor, the first woman ever elected to the position in DeRidder. She had won reelection with 60 percent of the vote just two years earlier.
That night, she hosted a pool party for her son’s 16th birthday at the family’s home. Teenagers drank alcohol freely. Photographs showed minors holding drinks near the pool. Roberts, wearing an orange bikini, flirted openly with her son’s best friend, a 16-year-old boy.
Witnesses testified she posed for photos with him, put her hand on his bare torso, and kissed him by the pool. At one point, she told him, “We can’t do this here”.
The boy followed Roberts into a locked “bonus room” inside the home. According to court documents, she exposed her breasts, lay down with him on a couch, and sat on top of him. A photograph taken by her own son captured the moment, an image prosecutors displayed for the jury, calling it “lewd and lascivious”.
Roberts’ son and nephew watched through a window or used a phone camera to see inside. Her daughter told investigators she saw her mother and the teenage boy “on top of each other” that night.
Afterward, the boy vomited from drinking too much. Roberts’ son confronted her, texting her that the situation was “crazy” and that his younger sister was crying.
The next day, the victim’s mother texted Roberts with a direct question: Was there any chance she was pregnant? Roberts replied that she was on birth control. She then screenshotted the conversation and sent it to a group chat, where friends suggested she take Plan B, the emergency contraceptive.
A DoorDash driver testified that he accepted a delivery request from “Misty C” to purchase Plan B and leave it at her front door. He recognized the house, he had taken his children trick-or-treating there in previous years.
Roberts texted her ex-husband, Duncan Clanton, the night of the party. “I f***** up,” she wrote. “And I respect you enough to tell you. And I need to”.
Clanton testified that Roberts admitted directly to him that she had sex with the teenage boy and that their children had caught them. When asked on the stand if he still considered her a great mother, Clanton answered simply: “No”.
Roberts also texted a juvenile witness, begging for silence. “I love you and I am so sorry. I cannot even believe it. I am sick. That shouldn’t happen,” she wrote. “I really hope this doesn’t blow up even worse. I’m scared to death. Please make sure he doesn’t say anything please”.
Roberts’ defense attorney, Adam Johnson, conceded the photograph of his client straddling the boy was “a real bad look.” He argued the encounter would not have happened without alcohol, calling his client’s behavior “trying to be the cool parent in a divorce”.
Roberts had divorced Clanton in 2022 after a bitter split. Court records from their custody battle revealed accusations of infidelity and sharp personal attacks on both sides.
The defense also argued that investigators failed to properly scrutinize differing accounts from the teenagers who claimed to have witnessed the encounter. Roberts had pleaded not guilty and maintained her innocence throughout.
But prosecutors had too much evidence: the photograph, the text messages, the DoorDash delivery, the testimony from multiple witnesses. Assistant District Attorney Charles Robinson told the jury, “A lewd and lascivious picture is worth a thousand words. Here, you have it”.
In a cruel twist, Roberts’ brother, Brandon Lee Roberts, 40, pleaded guilty in November to sexually assaulting a teenage girl and another young woman over several years. He was sentenced to 32 years in prison for seven counts of rape.
The siblings’ arrests came just two months apart in 2024—first Misty in August, then Brandon in October. Prosecutors said Brandon’s abuse began when one victim was just 13 years old.
Roberts resigned as mayor days before her 2024 arrest. In her resignation letter, she thanked residents for their “trust, love and support” and said her “love for DeRidder will never waver”.
She now faces sentencing on April 17. The charges, carnal knowledge of a juvenile and indecent behavior with a juvenile—carry maximum sentences of 10 and 7 years respectively, which could run consecutively.
Judge Kerry Anderson rejected prosecutors’ request to remand her immediately, citing her family ties and the fact she is not considered a flight risk. For now, she remains free until a judge decides how long she will spend behind bars.
The boy she abused is no longer 16. But he will carry the memory of that night forever, along with the knowledge that the former mayor who preyed on him will soon trade her BMW for a prison cell.
