Missouri Lawmaker Faces Expulsion Over Child Abuse Accusations
An ethics committee report said that State Representative Rick Roeber physically and sexually abused his children and once drowned puppies in a pond.
Lawmakers on the Missouri House Ethics Committee voted unanimously to recommend the expulsion of a colleague who they found to be credibly accused of child abuse.Credit.Whitney Curtis for The New York Times
April 21, 2021, 6:46 a.m. ET
A Missouri legislator faces expulsion from the state’s House of Representatives after an investigation by fellow lawmakers concluded that he had physically and sexually abused his children.
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 “drowned a litter of puppies in a nearby pond.”
The Missouri House voted 153-0 Wednesday to formally expel a lawmaker accused of physically and sexually abusing his children when they were younger.
The removal of Rep. Rick Roeber, R-Lee s Summit, marked only the second expulsion in the state s 200-year history. The first was in 1865, when the House expelled a secessionist.
The decision came after speeches from House Speaker Rob Vescovo, R-Arnold, and members of the House Ethics Committee who investigated the allegations against Roeber.
The committee put out a report Monday confirming the allegations after hearing testimony from Roeber s children that he sexually abused two of them in 1990, when they were 9 and 5, and physically and emotionally abused all four.
Rep. Rick Roeber, R-Lee s Summit / File Photo
The Missouri House of Representatives rejected Rep. Rick Roeber s resignation last week so that the ethics committee could complete its report on the Lee s Summit Republican. The House voted to expel Roeber Wednesday.
In a nearly unanimous vote Wednesday, the Missouri House expelled Lee s Summit Rep. Rick Roeber.
Months after child abuse allegations first surfaced against state Rep. Rick Roeber then a candidate for the Lee’s Summit district the Missouri House of Representatives voted Wednesday to expel the Republican.
While no lawmakers voted against expulsion, Rep. Bruce DeGroot, R-Ellisville, voted “present.”
In a somber discussion on the House floor, lawmakers said they found the allegations credible and criticized prosecutors for not bringing charges against Roeber when the abuse was reported decades ago.
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For the first time since the Civil War, Missouri House expels one of its own
State Rep. Rick Roeber (R-Lee’s Summit) resigned Tuesday (January 2021 photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)
State Representative Rick Roeber, R-Lee’s Summit, has been expelled. The Republican-controlled Missouri House of Representatives has voted unanimously today in favor of kicking Roeber out of office for allegedly abusing his four adult children when they were younger.
The last time a member of the Missouri House was expelled was during the Civil War. In 1865, the chamber ousted John Sampson of Callaway County.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. â A Missouri House committee has recommended Leeâs Summit Rep. Rick Roeber be expelled from office after finding that he sexually and physically abused his now-adult children when they were young.
In the House Ethics Committeeâs report released late Monday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers deemed the freshman Republicanâs accusers â including his ex-wife and three of his four children â credible. They testified he had committed acts that under Missouri law would constitute âsexual contactâ or âdeviate sexual intercourse,â according to the report.
The committee also found accusations of physical abuse by Roeber, including beatings and an incident that left one child with a scarred eyelid. The evidence in the case, which included testimony from five witnesses, was âclear and convincing,â the committee said.