A disgraced former mayor from Louisiana has been sentenced to 90 days in jail after being convicted of sexually abusing her son's 16-year-old friend. Misty Roberts, 43, faced a sentencing hearing on Tuesday where the victim's mother delivered a powerful statement, condemning the ex-mayor's actions.
"Danger doesn't 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," the mother told the court. "This predator has hair extensions, high heels, Botox and other augmentations," she added, fighting back tears.
Roberts, a mother of two from DeRidder, Louisiana, decided to serve the jail time instead of posting the AUD $213,705.60 bond ordered by the judge. However, she avoided a much longer prison sentence that prosecutors had sought. They requested the maximum of 17 years after Roberts was convicted in March of sexually assaulting the teenager in July 2024. The age of consent in Louisiana is 17.
During the sentencing, Judge D. Kent Savoie expressed skepticism about Roberts' apology. "In your statement today I didn't feel totally comfortable with that. I was not particularly swayed by that," he said. "I was substantially touched by what I heard about how this affected the victim's family." The judge also imposed two five-year suspended sentences and ordered Roberts to undergo therapy and pass regular drug and alcohol tests.
The incident occurred at a birthday party Roberts was hosting for her own son. She flirted with his 16-year-old friend before taking him into a room and having sex with him. The teen's mother described the lasting impact on her son. "You thought so much of yourself in that bikini that night you knew exactly what you were doing with his mind. He was 16," she said. "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."
The mother also criticized Roberts for initially trying to avoid responsibility and telling her family to "lie till you die" about what happened. The crime was discovered when partygoers noticed the activity, and Roberts' own children caught her in the act. A screaming match erupted, with Roberts' son yelling that she "effed" his "best friend."
After the incident became known, the victim's mother asked Roberts to take a morning-after pill to prevent pregnancy. Roberts replied that she was on birth control and that the sex "didn't reach that point in those few minutes to have that concern," but she still took a Plan B pill delivered by DoorDash.
At her sentencing, Roberts groveled for forgiveness. "I will blame myself for the rest of my life," she said. "I have the perfect family, beautiful children but at some point I chose myself above everyone else. I made a lot of promises to a lot of people to put DeRidder on the map. But I didn't do it the way I wanted to."
Prosecutor Charles Robinson dismissed her remorse. "This is not a dumb lady. This is somebody who managed an entire city budget," Robinson said. "She has not come to the realisation of accountability. She is not sorry."
This story originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission.
