The legal proceedings against former DeRidder Mayor Misty Roberts reached a critical juncture this week as a Louisiana courtroom heard a series of explosive testimonies from her own family members and a delivery driver. Roberts, 43, is facing charges of third-degree rape and contributing to the delinquency of juveniles following an alleged 2024 encounter with a 16-year-old boy.
The case, which has transfixed this community of approximately 9,800 residents, centers on a summer pool party where Roberts, then in her second mayoral term, allegedly engaged in sexual activity with a teenager who was a friend of her son. The fallout from the allegations led to her abrupt resignation shortly after the incident became public.
Eyewitness Accounts from Within the Family
The prosecution’s case leans heavily on the accounts of those closest to Roberts. On the stand, Roberts’ son recounted a 2025 interview in which he initially claimed to have witnessed his mother with his friend through a crack in a window. Under the pressure of the courtroom, however, he admitted to the jury that he could not be “completely sure” of what he saw, stating that in his “human mind” it appeared that way.
Despite his uncertainty on the stand, evidence presented to the jury showed a text message he sent to Roberts that night stating, “He is seventeen.” Investigations later confirmed the minor was actually 16 at the time.
Conversely, Roberts’ daughter provided a more direct account to investigators, stating she saw her mother and the teenager “on top of each other” during the festivities. A friend of the victim bolstered this narrative, testifying that the daughter had informed the group she witnessed the pair making out and eventually engaging in sexual activity.
