Louisiana Mayor Raped a Teen, Got 90 Days, Is Already Home

What Actually Happened at That Pool Party

According to The Guardian, Roberts sexually assaulted the underage victim in July 2024, while the two drank alcohol at her home. The boy was a high school student and a friend of Roberts' own son. Roberts was 44 years old. She was the sitting mayor of DeRidder at the time.

She had held that office since 2018. She resigned days before her arrest in early August 2024. A jury convicted her in early March of carnal knowledge of a juvenile and indecent behavior with a minor. These are not minor charges. They carry up to 17 years in prison.

She served 90 days.

The Judge Who Blew the Sentencing and Then Said Sorry, Sort Of

Judge Kent Savoie, who presided over the case, based Roberts' sentence on a list of more than 30 similar cases, The Guardian reports. There was one problem: those cases were all resolved through plea deals. Roberts' case went to a full jury trial. The comparison was, to use the judge's own word, wrong.

"I made an assumption, and that assumption was wrong. I was wrong in that respect," Savoie said at an August 31 court hearing, as reported by Louisiana news station KPLC. He said this out loud, in public, on the record.

Prosecutors asked him to correct the sentence. He declined. His reasoning, as KPLC reported, was that he didn't want to penalize Roberts for exercising her constitutional right to stand trial. Which is a real legal principle. It is also doing a tremendous amount of heavy lifting in this particular situation.

The Community Response Was About Exactly What You'd Expect

The people of DeRidder were not impressed. "When it comes to children, we should use the fullest extent of the law. There are no excuses when it comes to our children," resident Kari McGee told local outlet KALB. Ryan Clark, another DeRidder resident, called the sentence "an insult," also per KALB.

Those are two people. They speak for themselves. But it's a reasonable bet they're not alone in that parish.

What Roberts Said at Sentencing

At her June 9 sentencing, Roberts addressed the judge directly. "I blame myself then, I blame myself today and I will blame myself for the rest of my life. I let a lot of people down, and I am the only person responsible for that," she said, according to KPLC.

She also apologized to her victim's family. "I can't give back the high school days," she said, per KPLC. "I can't take away the embarrassment that so many mean people on the internet have put them through." The framing there, where the embarrassment caused by online reaction to the rape is offered as part of the apology for the rape, is worth sitting with for a moment.

The victim's mother was less measured. In her impact statement, she called Roberts "a predator with hair extensions, high heels [and] Botox," The Guardian reports. She also told Roberts directly: "Stay the hell away from my family."

The Fine Print That Doesn't Make This Better

Roberts was not released without any conditions. The Guardian reports she must register as a sex offender, pay $5,000 in fines, submit to regular drug screenings, and undergo both psychotropic and psychological therapy. She also has two suspended five-year prison sentences hanging over her head, which would kick in concurrently if she violates her release terms.

So yes, there are consequences. A sex offender registry is a real thing. The threat of additional prison time is real. But the math here is still: a sitting elected official sexually assaulted a teenage boy who was her son's friend, at her house, while giving him alcohol, was caught, tried, and convicted by a jury of her peers, and spent roughly the same amount of time in jail as a person might get for a third DUI in certain states.