Former Des Moines schools chief pleads guilty to weapons and immigration charges

DES MOINES, Iowa (CN) — The former superintendent of Des Moines schools, who has been sitting in jail in Iowa since his arrest last September by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court on charges of firearms possession by an illegal alien and making false statements regarding his immigration status for employment.

The plea agreement between Ian Andre Roberts and the U.S. Attorney’s Office was submitted to U.S. Magistrate Judge Helen Adams. Adams will now make a recommendation to U.S. District Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger, who will set a sentence at a hearing set for May 29.

At Thursday’s hearing, Roberts, wearing a green-and-white-striped jail jumpsuit and handcuffs, with his hair pulled up into a topknot and sporting a graying goatee, answered the judge’s questions about the voluntariness of his plea with polite “Yes, your honor,” responses. He was then taken by a federal marshal back to the Polk County Jail.

Roberts could be sentenced to up to 15 years in prison on the firearms charge and five years on the false statements charge, followed by a period of supervised release and fines of up to $250,000 for each of the two counts of the federal criminal indictment.

Roberts, 55, a native of Guyana who entered the United States on a student visa that expired in 2004, likely faces deportation at the end of any sentence, as a “final order of removal” was issued by a federal immigration court in 2024 for Roberts’ deportation.

Roberts was a popular leader of the state’s largest school district, beloved by children whose schools he regularly visited and warmly embraced by the city’s business leaders. Roberts, a tall and lean former track athlete who wore his hair in tight cornrows, was strikingly visible for his flashy and colorful vested suits, bow ties and Nike Air Force 1 sneaker running shoes.

That came to an abrupt end on a Friday afternoon last September when Des Moines was stunned by swiftly spreading reports on social media that Roberts had been arrested by ICE agents. The Department of Homeland Security subsequently confirmed that Roberts had been arrested and was in detention. According to the DHS, Roberts had abandoned his car and fled on foot. He was found in possession of a loaded handgun, a large amount of cash and a hunting knife, according to the federal criminal complaint. Authorities later found another handgun, a rifle and a shotgun in his residence.

With Roberts behind bars, Des Moines school officials were left scrambling to figure out how they were bamboozled by a superintendent candidate with seemingly pristine credentials but who lied about much of his life story.

A Black male, Roberts seemed an ideal pick for the urban school district with a large proportion of minority students from immigrant families.

Roberts grew up in Brooklyn, New York, the son of immigrant parents. He earned a BA degree from Coppin State University in Baltimore and a doctorate in urban educational leadership and a master’s degree in education from St. John’s University in Queens, New York City, according to a news release at the time of his hiring.

Roberts is also a former Olympic athlete, competing in the 2000 Sydney Games in track and field for Guyana as a middle-distance runner.

In the months since Roberts’ arrest, Des Moines school officials and community leaders are still struggling to figure out how much of Roberts’ life story and resume is truth or fiction.

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