FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Livingston- According to District Attorney Scott M. Perrilloux, on April 11, 2012, Kenneth T. Roberts, Jr., 49, of River Road, Denham Springs, LA was convicted in a trial by jury of Simple Kidnapping.
Assistant District Attorney Matt Belser represented the state with Judge Zoey Waguespack presiding.
The incident occurred the night of August 4, 2011, while the defendant was staying with his 74-year-old mother. She reported to Denham Springs Police that she was awakened sometime around midnight to find her son standing over her bed. The victim claimed that he threatened to beat her with a picture of Jesus and a statue of the Virgin Mary if she did not drive him to the ATM and withdraw $80 so he could pay back $60 that he owed to a drug dealer.
They drove to a nearby ATM where she withdrew the money. The victim reported the ordeal to police the next morning.
Officers arrived at the home to find Roberts was hiding in a bedroom closet. He was then arrested for Aggravated Kidnapping and Simple Robbery.
After his arrest, the victim contacted the District Attorney’s office to request that Roberts be billed with lesser charges so that he would not face life in prison and to request drug treatment for her son. Prosecutors chose to charge Roberts with Simple Kidnapping, but also added a sentencing enhancement provision to the charge due to the fact that this was a crime of violence against a person over the age of sixty-five.
Eventually, the victim, who had been in steady contact with her son, asked that charges be dropped completely. The District Attorney’s Office denied this request and the mother’s story began to change.
She then stated that she was not kidnapped and she willingly went to the ATM. However, prosecutors were not convinced by this and continued to believe that she was telling the truth in her statements to police.
At trial, Belser presented recorded phone conversations to the jury in which Roberts is telling his mother to help get him out of prison. He also is heard telling her to avoid subpoenas for court and what to tell the prosecutor and the judge.
Even when confronted with the recordings, photos from the ATM, and her original verbal and written statements, the victim denied the allegations against her son.
After viewing all the evidence and testimony, the six-person jury unanimously found Roberts guilty as charged. Sentencing is scheduled for April 26, 2012. The maximum sentence for Simple Kidnapping is five years. With the age enhancement provision, the court now also has the discretion of imposing an additional three years to the sentence, said Perrilloux.