State Trooper: Investigation into former mayor began with a text message

Published 7:42 pm Monday, March 2, 2026

Exchanges became heated during cross-examinations on Monday, as the trial of former DeRidder mayor Misty Roberts entered its second week.

Ad Hoc Judge D. Kent Savoie recommended a momentary pause at one point during questioning between Roberts’ defense counsel Adam Johnson and Melissa Welch, an investigator with Louisiana State Police’s Special Victims Unit out of Alexandria. Welch testified her investigation into the allegations of Roberts having sex with an underage teen began in an unorthodox way when she received a call from a lieutenant with LSP telling her that a potential victim’s mother needed to speak with her, rather than by receiving an incident report.

Welch said she reached out to the alleged victim’s mother and after that initial contact, the mother sent Welch a screenshot of a text message exchange between the mother and Roberts in which the victim’s mother asks Robert if there is a chance she could be
pregnant.

Welch said that was enough to lead her to believe she had a case to investigate.

“It gave me the impression that Misty (Roberts) had some type of sexual encounter with their son,” Welch testified.

During cross-examination, Johnson brought up multiple shortcomings in Welch’s investigation into the allegations, which he claimed included failing to take photos and properly document the room the incident allegedly occurred in, not obtaining victim’s clothing for testing or trying to test the couch where the incident allegedly occurred, or obtaining security footage from cameras at Roberts’ home.

Johnson also questioned Welch’s initial interview with the victim’s mother. In the interview played for jurors, Welch was audio recording simultaneously while the two were being recorded by video in an interview room. At the end of the interview, Welch is
seen and heard saying she ended the audio recording before telling the victim’s mother she intended to interview other juveniles at Roberts’ house the night of the incident and Jill Weaver, the mother of one of the juveniles.

Last week, Weaver testified that she had initially told everyone involved to lie and deny the alleged incident occurred and in the interview with the victim’s mother, Welch said she intended to tell Weaver that potential witnesses had better “get on board with the
train, or they will get run over by the train.”

“I don’t like railroading people,” Welch went on to say in the video, “but what’s done is done.”

When questioned by Johnson over the comments, Welch said her comments were meant to reassure the victim’s mother that she was going to get everyone involved to cooperate with the investigation, and she testified she never said those words to any witness.

Johnson also pressed Welch on her reasons for not interviewing Roberts or more of the juveniles at Roberts’ house the night of the party before issuing a warrant for Roberts’ arrest, and accused Welch of building her case against Roberts solely on rumors and
gossip.

“So, you issued an arrest warrant without even interviewing everyone involved,” Johnson questioned her.

“Don’t forget the text messages,” Welch quipped back.

“Oh yes, a text message.”

“From your client.”

“So, you would arrest someone over a text message,” Johnson questioned again.

“I had probable cause for an arrest warrant, Mr. Johnson.” Welch responded loudly into the court microphone.

Five witnesses in total gave testimony by the time court wrapped for the day, with two juveniles testifying that they were present when Roberts came out of the bonus room with the alleged victim, and that she was upset and demanding to see everyone’s cell
phone to see if anyone had a video of the incident.

The last witness for the day was the victim’s mother, whose testimony revealed her son had not been forthcoming with her in the initial days after the alleged incident.

During his cross-examination, Johnson questioned the mother on why she and her husband chose not to immediately report the incident to authorities.

“Because we wanted it to go away,” she testified. “I wanted to protect my child.”

When she did decide to report the incident, she stated she first called District Attorney James Lestage and then Beauregard Parish Sheriff Mark Herford before ultimately calling “a contact” with the Louisiana State Police.

When asked why she didn’t call the DeRidder Police Department, since Roberts’ home is located inside city limits, the victim’s mother testified they chose not to because “(Roberts) was their boss” as mayor.

Court will resume Tuesday at 9 a.m. in the 36 th Judicial District Court of Beauregard Parish.