A disgraced small-town mayor who was allegedly caught by her children having sex with a drunken 16-year-old boy at a booze-fueled pool party later ordered emergency contraception on DoorDash. Misty Roberts, the 43-year-old former mayor of DeRidder, is now facing trial on a charge of third-degree rape stemming from an alleged encounter in 2024.
After word spread around the town of roughly 9,800 about Roberts and the alleged encounter with the teenager, the boy's mother — who was friends with Roberts' son — reached out by text to the then-mayor to ask whether she might be pregnant. Prosecutors told jurors last week that Roberts said she was on birth control, KPLC reported.
Wild, Wild Party
Roberts later shared a screenshot of that text exchange in a group chat with friends, prosecutors said. In the messages, her friends encouraged her to take Plan B, the over-the-counter "morning-after" pill. A driver for DoorDash testified that he accepted an order from someone listed as "Misty C" to buy the emergency contraception and leave it at the front door.
He told the court he recognized Roberts because he had previously gone trick-or-treating with his children at her home. When rumors about the allegations later began circulating, the driver said it led him to believe the delivery was connected to the incident.
Roberts' son told investigators in a recorded interview played for the jury that he saw his mother having sex with his friend through a small crack in a window. However, when he later took the stand, he backed away from that account, saying he wasn't completely sure about what he had seen that night, according to KPLC.
Prosecutors also showed jurors text messages from that evening in which the son contacted his mother after realizing something was wrong. In the messages, he told her that his sister was crying, suggesting the situation inside the home had already caused visible distress.
"He is seventeen," the son texted Roberts.
The boy's age at the time was later verified by officials to be 16.
Family Against Her
Prosecutors played Roberts' daughter's interview with cops, during which she claimed to have seen her mother and the boy "on top of each other" that evening. Roberts' daughter also testified. Roberts' ex-husband, Duncan Clanton, testified on Saturday that Roberts told him straight out that she had sex with the juvenile and that the children had caught them in the act. Clanton claimed that his son later verified what she had told him.
Jurors were shown a series of text messages exchanged between the former couple. In those messages, Clanton reassured Roberts that she was a "great mom" and encouraged her to "deny what happened" if the issue came up during a town council meeting, according to KPLC.
"I can't keep hurting others, friends and family. Lord knows I've done enough," Roberts soberly responded in one text.
During cross-examination, Clanton was asked whether he still believed Roberts was a good mother, and he answered plainly, "No."
Jurors were also shown text messages in which Roberts asked her son what type of alcohol he and his friends wanted for the party. A member of the victim's friend group testified that the teenager appeared clearly drunk that night and even vomited at one point. The witness said Roberts was dancing closely with the boy and flirting with him.
The jury also saw a photo from the party showing Roberts in a bikini, with the teenage boy looking up at her and smiling.
According to the victim's acquaintance, Roberts' daughter told a group of teens that night that she saw her mother and the teen making out by the pool. Later, he claimed to have witnessed Roberts and the boy having sex.
A friend testified that once Roberts and the teen came downstairs, tensions quickly escalated, leading to shouting and a heated argument inside the house.
Within days of police opening an investigation into the allegations, Roberts — who was serving her second term — resigned as mayor of DeRidder, a small city about 20 miles east of the Texas border. She has since been charged with third-degree rape and contributing to the delinquency of juveniles.
This marks Roberts' second time facing trial in the case. Her first trial ended in a mistrial after two judges in Beauregard Parish were removed due to alleged connections to her ex-husband, according to KPLC. She was formally arraigned on the current charges earlier this year.
