this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2026
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Misty Roberts, 43, faces sentences of up to 10 and seven years in prison after July 2024 sexual assault at pool party

The former mayor of a Louisiana city has been convicted of raping a 16-year-old boy during a party at her house while she was still in office.

Misty Roberts, 43, faces sentences of up to 10 and seven years in prison after a jury in the municipality of DeRidder on Tuesday found her guilty of two felonies: carnal knowledge of a juvenile – or statutory rape – as well as indecent behavior with a minor.

In October, in an unrelated case, her 40-year-old brother, Brandon Lee Roberts, pleaded guilty to raping two people: an underage girl and a young woman. He subsequently received a 42-year prison sentence.

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[–] NENathaniel@lemmy.ca 6 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Got confused by the headline cause 16 would be legal where I am and certainly doesn’t strike me instinctively as “rape”.

That being said, bangin a kid in high school when you’re in your 40s is uncomfy

[–] bold_atlas@lemmy.world 12 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

Well you're not alone in having that mindset.

And unfortunately that is why rape continues to be a massive issue today. It's one of the biggest social evil plaguing the human race. Rape islands, sex trafficking, the Epstein files, the AI child porn factories, forced birth returning to America etc, all the same.

[–] kossa@feddit.org 1 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Well you're not alone in having that mindset.

Well, a lot of countries do not have this "18 years is the definitive line" ruleset. Which is made to not criminalize sex between e.g. 19 and 17 years old, which is also kind of ridiculous. OTOH it easily leads to the situation where 40 years and 16 years is also legal (in Germany e.g. when there's no power dynamic between the parties - so 40 yo teacher and his pupil - nono; "random encounter" legal as long as there's consent). But then again how would the law be written to make it better, like some crazy formula to check for?!

In America, where most states the age of consent is 18, there are also laws that carve out exceptions if both parties are close in age. So a 19 year old is allowed have sex with a 17 year old, but a 45 year old isn't.