A conservative judge should be removed from the bench for “egregious unethical conduct” after lying about her military career, a Louisiana special counsel has said.
District Judge Tiffany Foxworth-Roberts is reported to have falsely claimed she had attained the rank of Captain, and said that she was deployed overseas in Operation Desert Storm and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Such misstatements about her service were made during her campaign to be elected as a judge and later during an investigation into her conduct.
In a recommendation to the Judiciary Commission of Louisiana, seen by The Independent, Special Counsel Michelle Beaty agreed that Foxworth-Roberts should be removed from judicial office and that she should have to pay for the cost of the investigation.
“The evidence was overwhelming that Judge Foxworth-Roberts's conduct constituted egregious unethical conduct, necessitating a severe penalty,” the brief stated.
“Judge Foxworth-Roberts' egregious misconduct, including a severe lack of cooperation, were calculated, deliberate, made in bad faith to further her own self-interests, and avoid detection.”
In 2020, Foxworth-Roberts ran as a Democrat for a seat on the bench. Despite her party affiliation, Foxworth-Roberts described herself in at least one ad as representing “conservative family values.” She went on to tout herself as being “pro-life,” “pro-traditional marriage,” “crime fighter,” “pro-military,” and “pro-veteran.”
Investigators said that one of the most serious complaints was Foxworth-Roberts’s repeated claim that she had attained the rank of captain. The claim was central to her political campaign and appeared repeatedly in ads and media coverage.
The special counsel's brief said the judge had provided "misleading, incomplete, and false information" to investigators and had ignored requests and subpoenas for her military records.
Investigators were forced to get the records from the Army themselves.
She also "lied in her sworn statement to the [Office of Special Counsel], claiming she attained the rank of Captain while serving in the Army," the brief said, adding that Foxworth-Roberts also "failed to achieve the rank of Captain twice, requiring her separation from the U.S. Army Reserves at the rank of First Lieutenant."
A newspaper advertisement that ran in 2020 as part of her campaign for office stated that Foxworth-Roberts served 13 years in the U.S. Army as “both an enlisted soldier and commissioned officer during Desert Storm, Iraq, and Afghanistan wars.”
The brief noted that, having been born in 1974, Foxworth-Roberts would only have been 16 years old during Desert Storm.
According to the brief, Foxworth-Roberts was also untruthful about an insurance claim for a diamond ring, having misled police about the location of a reported burglary of her vehicle.
Foxworth-Roberts said a $19,000 diamond ring had been stolen from a vehicle. The OSC says the judge tried to hide the fact that she made a claim and attempted to mislead the agency regarding what losses she actually claimed.
Foxworth-Roberts is due to go before the Judiciary Commission on May 23.
