John Roberts died a broken man.
The Carteret County resident was elected to the state House of Commons in 1804 and served 12 terms before being chosen for the Senate in 1816, according to "The Dictionary of North Carolina Biography," edited by William S. Powell.
In 1814, Roberts served as an assistant paymaster general for his district's state militia during the War of 1812. It proved his undoing.
In December of 1816, the General Assembly received several petitions from militiamen who complained that they weren't paid by him.
A joint legislative committee found evidence of forgery and fraud and Roberts was expelled. After several years in jail and two trials, Roberts was released in 1822 and pardoned by the governor.
"Roberts never fully recovered from his ordeal, and court records from his home county suggested that he was dead by March 1823," the book notes.
Hat Tip: Lamara Hackett
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Re: John Roberts' lengthy trial
the reason he could serve 12 terms between 1804 and 1816 was that elections were for one-year terms back then.