A Missouri legislator faces expulsion from the state\u2019s House of Representatives after an investigation by fellow lawmakers concluded that he had physically and sexually abused his children.<\/p>\n
After hearing testimony from his family and reviewing hundreds of pages of documents, the Missouri House Ethics Committee wrote a report finding that the lawmaker, Rick Roeber, physically abused his children, sexually abused one at age 9 and another at age 5, and once \u201cdrowned a litter of puppies in a nearby pond.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Monday, the committee unanimously recommended Mr. Roeber\u2019s expulsion, writing that \u201cthe State of Missouri has failed these children for over 20 years.\u201d The House is expected to vote on the measure this week.<\/p>\n
Mr. Roeber, a Republican, offered to resign earlier this month, but the House rejected his resignation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s far more important that we do all we can to seek justice for his children and to ensure he never again causes harm to another child,\u201d Rob Vescovo, the House speaker, and Travis Fitzwater, the Ethics Committee chairman, said in a statement last week. \u201cHis resignation allows him to walk away from his duties as a representative, but we cannot allow him to once again walk away from the children he victimized.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Roeber\u2019s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The committee\u2019s report from the investigation credited The Kansas City Star for a September 2020 article in which two of Mr. Roeber\u2019s adult children said they had been abused by him. The Star\u2019s report was published before the November 2020 election, which prompted several lawmakers to call for Mr. Roeber to withdraw his candidacy.<\/p>\n
He denied all the allegations and refused to drop out of the race.<\/p>\n
In his testimony before the committee, Mr. Roeber denied physically or sexually abusing his children, all of whom are now adults. He said that he was an alcoholic, but that he had not consumed alcohol since 1992.<\/p>\n
Mr. Roeber also said that his children\u2019s testimony was part of a \u201cpolitical hit\u201d and that his children were Democrats, and agreed he was implying that \u201cDemocrats would accuse their fathers\u201d of such abuse for political reasons.<\/p>\n
Mr. Roeber was \u201ccombative, defensive, defiant and at times angry\u201d in his appearance before the committee, according to the report, which did not give the names of Mr. Roeber\u2019s adult children. The report said it found his testimony \u201cto be not credible\u201d and noted that under state law, there is no statute of limitations for \u201ca sexual offense committed against a minor.\u201d<\/p>\n
In testimony before the committee, one of the lawmaker\u2019s children said that Mr. Roeber had been a \u201csevere alcoholic,\u201d and that he would drink until he blacked out, according to the report.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo have someone that you are trusting as your parent to treat you in that manner and to not treat you like a child\u201d takes away your innocence, the person said.<\/p>\n
The person described once disclosing the abuse to Mr. Roeber\u2019s wife, the person\u2019s mother, who called the police, but said that no criminal charges were filed.<\/p>\n
The person testified that Mr. Roeber had said if anyone was told about the abuse, \u201che would be in a lot of trouble, he would go to jail and our family would be ruined.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another one of the lawmaker\u2019s children testified that the household was \u201cvery chaotic always,\u201d and that the family endured a \u201chellish nightmare\u201d because of Mr. Roeber, whom the person described as someone who was \u201calways with a beer in hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
The person said that Mr. Roeber had attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, but that the violence in the home did not stop after the legislator started going to the meetings. The person visits a therapist monthly because of conditions related to Mr. Roeber\u2019s abuse, the report said.<\/p>\n
Before becoming a state representative, Mr. Roeber worked as a Sprint project manager for 20 years, and as a chaplain for a \u201cChrist-centered\u201d rescue shelter in Kansas City, Mo.<\/p>\n
After a later wife, State Representative Rebecca Roeber, died in 2019, Mr. Roeber ran to fill her seat representing Missouri\u2019s 34th District. Mr. Roeber was elected last November.<\/p>\n
After the election, three of Mr. Roeber\u2019s now-adult children wrote to the speaker-elect of the House of Representatives about the abuse they said they had experienced from Mr. Roeber, and asked the House to determine whether he was fit to serve as a representative.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease do what is right, not just for us, but for all those in Missouri who have suffered, and all the children you have sworn to protect,\u201d the three wrote.<\/p>\n
In January, two Missouri state representatives filed formal complaints about ethical misconduct by Mr. Roeber and requested an investigation into his children\u2019s allegations. The Missouri House Ethics Committee met several times from February through April.<\/p>\n
If the Missouri House votes to expel Mr. Roeber, he would become only the second member of the state\u2019s house to be expelled, according to The Kansas City Star, which has covered developments in the Roeber investigation for months. The first Missouri House member to be expelled was for disloyalty to the Union in 1865, according to the newspaper.<\/p>\n