MUSKEGON COUNTY, Michigan — from www.mlive.com – “I totally screwed up. I’m an idiot. I wanted to kick myself 3,000 times.”
Roger Dale Roberts, who spoke those words in court Friday, will have at least 2,556 days to do that in prison if he wishes.
Muskegon County 14th Circuit Judge Timothy G. Hicks sentenced Roberts, 50, of Norton Shores to prison for seven to 22 years, with credit for one day already served in jail.
Last month, a jury convicted the Apple Avenue Powerhouse Gym owner of three counts of making child sexually abusive material — pornography — by video-recording himself having sex with a 17-year-old girl.
The seven-year minimum sentence was at the bottom end of state sentencing guidelines.
Hicks noted unusual aspects of the case that kept him from imposing a longer sentence. “Looking at the victim and her family, this is not probably the typical child sexually abusive material situation,” the judge said. “What is the court’s duty where the defendant, her parents and the victim agree to break the law?”
That was a reference to the fact that the now 18-year-old girl and her parents had signed a “model release form” Roberts supplied, purportedly giving their consent for the girl to pose for “X-rated” pictures “for commercial purposes,” in the words of the release. The girl met Roberts after responding to a newspaper ad seeking models to work at an agency.
Hicks also noted that the girl had been only a few months short of her 18th birthday, at which age the video-recording would have been legal, while the age of consent in Michigan for sex is 16. That meant the sex acts were legal, but recording them was not. But, Hicks pointed out, the Legislature did set 18 as the minimum age.
The judge rejected Lansing defense attorney Scott Grabel’s request that he go below state sentencing guidelines, or even impose no incarceration at all under a clause in the law that appears to permit imposition of a $100,000 fine instead.
Hicks noted Roberts’ prior felony convictions in 1994 of three counts of contractor fraud, one element that raised Roberts’ sentence guidelines this time. “Mr. Roberts has a history of cutting corners, doing things that are unethical and probably immoral,” Hicks said.
D.J. Hilson, the senior assistant Muskegon County prosecutor who tried the case, argued for a much more severe minimum sentence — 23 1/2 years, at the top end of sentencing guidelines.
But afterwards, Hilson said the prosecutor’s office is not disappointed. “This guy thought he was above the law. Now he’s going to serve seven years,” Hilson said. “We are certainly satisfied with that.”
The victim — who testified at the trial that she felt intimidated by the heavily muscled Roberts into having sex with him — was glad he was headed for prison. “Thank God he’s put away,” she said after the sentencing. “He can’t hurt another little girl.”
Regarding the “consent form” the parents signed, the victim’s mother said of Roberts, “he was consenting to take pictures, not rape her.” Roberts was never charged with rape, although the incident was initially called in to police as a rape.