From the Del Norte County District Attorney’s Office:

Roger Lee Roberts.

The Del Norte District Attorney’s Office announced that late yesterday afternoon, a Del Norte County jury found Roger Lee Roberts (54) of Crescent City guilty of a total of 20 of 21 separate charges and allegations related to conduct that occurred between May, 2015 and September, 2015 involving a 15 year old female. The charges were as follows: ten counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with the minor, one special allegation of causing great bodily injury for impregnating the minor, four counts of furnishing methamphetamine to the minor (each with special allegations regarding the age difference) and that the Defendant had two prior convictions for lewd and lascivious acts on a child under 14 for crimes committed in 1987 and 2000. Both of the Defendant’s prior victims testified as did the victim in the present case.

The jury did not find that the Defendant, by impregnating the minor, had inflicted great bodily injury upon her. The minor gave birth to a baby in May 2016 and paternity was confirmed to the Defendant through DNA testing. The jury did not conclude that the pregnancy amounted to great bodily injury.

The Defendant has been in the Del Norte County Jail since September, 2016. He will be sentenced on March 30, 2017 by the Honorable William H. Follett. District Attorney Dale P. Trigg, who personally handled all stages of the prosecution, will ask Judge Follett to sentence the Defendant to serve 350 years to life in state prison, which is his maximum possible exposure according to the District Attorney who never extended a plea offer to the Defendant in the case.

“This Defendant has demonstrated a pattern of behavior over the last thirty years that makes it abundantly clear that juvenile females are not safe in his presence,” said Trigg. “First and foremost, I want to express my personal gratitude and admiration to the three known victims of this predator for having the incredible courage to face him in the courtroom and tell the jury what he did to them,” said Trigg.

District Attorney Trigg also wants to recognize Sgt. Richard Griffin of the Del Norte Sheriff’s Office for his work as the investigating officer in the case.