A Henry County jury has found Derek Brett Roberts, 44 of Clinton, guilty of all twenty-
three counts he faced, specifically eight counts of sexual trafficking of a child in the first degree,
four counts of rape in the first degree, and eleven counts of sodomy in the first degree.
Henry County Prosecutor LaChrisha Gray prosecuted the case on behalf of the State of
Missouri.
The charges stem from an online investigation conducted by the Division of Drug and
Crime Control of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, which then led investigators to execute
multiple search warrants of the home and devices of Roberts.
Highway Patrol investigators, through analysis of Roberts’s phone, found multiple files
containing what appeared to be photographs and videos of graphic child pornography, including
numerous videos that appeared to have been created by the defendant in his home with children
under the age of nine.
The jury trial began Monday, June 24, 2024. One hundred and fifty Henry County
citizens were summoned for selection. The State presented evidence over the course of several
days, including footage from the defendant’s phone. The jury deliberated for over an hour and
returned a verdict the afternoon of Thursday, June 27, 2024.
The defendant will be sentenced at a later date by Circuit Judge M. Brandon Baker,
which will be set on August 8, 2024.
Each sexual trafficking of a child conviction is punishable by a term of life imprisonment
without the possibility of parole until the defendant has served twenty-five years in prison.
Because the victims were under the age of twelve, each of the rape and sodomy in the first
degree convictions are punishable by life imprisonment without the eligibility of parole until the
defendant has served thirty years of such sentence.
