According to the Henry County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, a Clinton man has been sentenced in a sex trafficking case from back in June of 2024. The attorney’s office says that Derek Brett Roberts, 44, of Clinton was sentenced to 23 life sentences for eight counts of first-degree sexual trafficking of a child, four counts of first-degree rape and 11 counts of first-degree sodomy. These charges stem from an investigation conducted online by the Division of Drug and Crime Control of the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The investigation led to various search warrants of the home and devices of Roberts.
MSHP says
that their investigators found several files containing what appeared to be
photos and videos of graphic child pornography, many of which were believed to
have been created by Roberts in his home with children under the age of nine. Back
in June, a jury found Roberts guilty of all 23 counts, according to the
attorney’s office. Today, October 11, Circuit Judge M. Brandon Baker sentenced
Roberts. Henry Co. Prosecutor LaChrisha Gray prosecuted the case.
After
considering the evidence and arguments presented, the court sentenced Roberts
to life in prison on each count and ordered the sentences to run consecutively.
The court’s sentence requires that Roberts serve 650 years before being
eligible for parole.
