Carlton Houston Roberts III, 47, of Arnold has been sentenced to 19 years in prison in connection with a shooting and kidnapping at an Arnold-area home in September 2021, court documents show.
Roberts, a prior offender, entered an Alford plea in the felony case on March 6, which means he did not admit guilt but agreed there was sufficient evidence to find him guilty of the offense.
On April 19, Jefferson County Div. 4 Circuit Judge Brenda Stacey sentenced Roberts to 15 years each for first-degree domestic assault, two counts of first-degree kidnapping and first-degree burglary, as well as four years each for unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful use of weapon, according to court records.
Roberts will serve the 15-year sentences concurrently, or at the same time, and the four-year sentences concurrently. However, he will serve the 15-year and four-year sentences consecutively, for a total of 19 years, court records show.
Assistant prosecuting attorney Courtney Goodwin handled the case.
Roberts was arrested Sept. 13, 2021, following a standoff that lasted nearly nine hours at a home in the 3000 block of Adayah Drive off Miller Road outside the Arnold city limits. Roberts reportedly entered the home at about 3:20 a.m. to confront his former girlfriend, a 41-year-old woman, because she was living there with a woman described as her “new girlfriend,” the probable-cause statement in the case said.
Roberts confronted his former girlfriend in a rear bedroom and reportedly shot her in the chest. The victim’s 79-year-old grandmother, who also lives in the home, came out of another bedroom and saw the younger woman lying on the floor. Then, the older woman locked herself in a bedroom, according to the report.
In the meantime, Roberts used a cell phone to record himself and livestream a video on Facebook that reportedly showed him yelling at his former girlfriend and her grandmother and threatening to shoot his ex-girlfriend again. Roberts then forced open the door to the bedroom where the grandmother was hiding and pointed a gun at her, demanded her cellphone and commanded her to come out into the hallway. He then reportedly forced his ex-girlfriend and her grandmother into a bedroom, where he sat near a window and fired a single gunshot out of the home as deputies arrived at the house, the report said.
The grandmother eventually was allowed to leave the home, and at about 7:15 a.m., SWAT unit members entered the home and freed the injured woman. The gunshot victim was taken to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, the Sheriff’s Office reported.
During the standoff, deputies, along with members of the Sheriff’s Office and St. Louis County SWAT units, learned a 25-year-old Crystal City woman also was inside the home and had been hiding in a bedroom closet in the same room where Roberts was holed up without him being aware of her presence, the probable-cause statement said.
A robot was used to find Roberts in the home as negotiators attempted to defuse the situation. Just before noon, SWAT team members entered the home, arrested Roberts without further incident and freed the Crystal City woman from the closet, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
After the standoff ended, authorities learned Roberts was a convicted felon and was not supposed to have a gun.
In October 1994, Roberts pleaded guilty to first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle tied to a July 1994 incident in St. Louis. He was sentenced to one year in prison, court documents said.
He pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary in October 1995 stemming from a January incident that year in Jefferson County, and in November 1995, he pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary and stealing connected to a January 1994 in St. Louis. He was sentenced to three years in prison for the Jefferson County incident and three years in prison for the incident in St. Louis, court records show.
Roberts also pleaded guilty in February 1996 to attempting to steal a motor vehicle in April 1994 in St. Louis County, and he pleaded guilty to first-degree tampering in August 2001 tied to a September 2000 incident in St. Louis. He was sentenced to three years in prison for the attempted stealing charge, and he received a five-year sentence for the tampering charge, court records said.
Roberts pleaded guilty to felony stealing in April 2011 connected to a June 2010 incident in St. Louis County and was sentenced to three years in prison, and in January 2012, he pleaded guilty to stealing stemming from a May 2010 incident in St. Charles County and was sentenced to seven years in prison, according to court documents.
Court records also show Roberts was charged with misdemeanor domestic assault in 2018 and 2019 while living in the home on Adayah Drive.