Moines

Ian Roberts, superintendent of the Des Moines, Iowa, public school system, was arrested by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement last week. The district announced it will file suit against the consulting firm that recommended him for the job. Photo courtesy of ICE.

Oct. 3 (UPI) — The Des Moines Public Schools plans to file a lawsuit against a consulting firm that recommended former superintendent Ian Roberts, who was detained by immigration officials.

JG Consulting is the superintendent search firm that helped the district find and vet potential candidates. The board paid $41,000 to JG Consulting.

The district said in a news release it claims breach of contract for failing to properly vet Roberts “and referred Roberts for consideration even though he could not lawfully hold the position.” It also claims negligence for presenting Roberts “as a suitable and viable candidate when he was not.”

The Des Moines Register’s own investigation found Roberts did not earn a doctorate from Morgan State, which he claimed. He also claimed he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and MIT had no record of his enrollment. He claimed he was awarded the Washington, D.C., “Principal of the Year” from George Washington University, which doesn’t exist.

JG Consulting CEO James Guerra wrote in a statement this week that another company, Baker-Eubanks, conducted a “comprehensive background review” of Roberts, the Des Moines Register reported.

“All required employment procedures were completed by DMPS prior to his appointment,” Guerra wrote. “As always, the authority to hire and oversee the Superintendent rests solely with the school board.”

Roberts was born in Guyana and came to the United States for college in 1999. He claimed he went on to get a Ph.D. and became a teacher and school administrator. He said he has worked in education for 20 years and had jobs in Maryland, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.

He was arrested on Sept. 26 “in possession of a loaded handgun, $3,000 in cash and a fixed blade hunting knife,” an ICE press release said. It said when his car was approached by officers, he sped away. “Roberts has existing weapon possession charges from Feb. 5, 2020. Roberts entered the United States in 1999 on a student visa and was given a final order of removal by an immigration judge in May of 2024.”

The district is requesting a jury trial with damages for reputational harm, superintendent pay and costs related to additional hiring processes, The Register reported.

Roberts is now in the Polk County Jail on a U.S. Marshals hold.

Oct. 2 (UPI) — Federal prosecutors on Thursday charged the now former head of De Moines Public Schools on weapons and immigration offenses.

Ian Andre Roberts, 54, a citizen of the South American nation of Guyana, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Friday following a short chase in Des Moines, prompting his resignation.

According to the indictment made public Thursday, Roberts was in the country illegally.

The document states that Roberts entered the United States in 1999 on a student visa that expired in 2004.

In 2001 and thrice in 2018, Roberts filed for permanent residency, applications which were all rejected. In 2018 and 2020, he also applied for an adjustment to his status in the country based on his marriage to U.S. citizen Lenisha Roberts but was denied over his failure to respond to a request for additional information.

Starting in December 2019, Roberts had lawful authorization to work in the United States, but not after December 2020.

The document states he was ordered removed from the country on May 22, 2024. In late April of this year, a judge denied his motion to reopen his case.

On Friday morning, ICE officers surveilled Robert’s residence on Saint Andrews Circle in Des Moines. According to the indictment, those officers spotted a man who looked like Roberts in a white Jeep Cherokee, which they followed. The suspect vehicle drove at “a high rate of speed” into a mobile home park, it said.

The ICE agents located the vehicle abandoned and conducted a search for Roberts, who was found about 200 yards south of the Jeep, hiding in brush, according to the indictment.

As search of his vehicle revealed a 9mm Glock wrapped in a towel under the driver’s seat, purchased by his wife in October 2019, as well as his Guyana passport, renewed in April 2024 with a 2029 expiration.

Three additional firearms, including rifle and a 20-gauge shotgun, were discovered in his residence, along with multiple firearm magazines.

Roberts was being held at the Woodbury County jail, but has since been taken into custody by the Justice Department on a federal warrant, the county’s sheriff’s office said in a statement.

Following his arrest, Roberts resigned as superintendent. His lawyer, Alfredo Parrish, announced Roberts’ resignation during a press conference his on Tuesday.

“We want you to know that Dr. Roberts’ greatest concern is about his students who he actually loves and the students who love him back and the staff,” Parrish said.

Des Moines Public Schools said in a statement that Matt Smith, associate superintendent, would fill in as interim superintended until further notice.

“Our priority is to provide a safe, secure and outstanding education for all students and to support our students, families and employees,” the school board said.

Sept. 27 (UPI) — The superintendent of Des Moines Public Schools in Iowa was apprehended by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on a deportation order and in possession of a loaded gun in a district vehicle.

Ian Andre Roberts, 54, entered from Guyana in 1999 on a student visa and had a final order for removal by an immigration judge in May 2024, ICE said in a news release Friday.

“This suspect was arrested in possession of a loaded weapon in a vehicle provided by Des Moines Public Schools after fleeing federal law enforcement,” Sam Olson, ICE field office director in St. Paul, Minn., said in the release.

“This should be a wake-up call for our communities to the great work that our officers are doing every day to remove public safety threats. How this illegal alien was hired without work authorization, a final order of removal, and a prior weapons charge is beyond comprehension and should alarm the parents of that school district,” he said.

On Friday, ICE officers approached Roberts in the vehicle and, after identifying himself, he sped away, the agency said. His vehicle was found later near a wooded area.

At 8:45 a.m., the Iowa Department of Public Safety said in a news release that the agency received a mutual aid request to assist ICE in finding someone who fled from a traffic stop.

Iowa State Patrol troopers and special agents assisted ICE in finding Roberts, and he was taken into custody. Initially, he was listed as detained at the Pottawattamie County Jail, although the ICE website later removed any mention of a specific detention facility.

In 2021, Roberts pleaded guilty in Erie., Pa. to unlawful possession of a loaded firearm in a vehicle, which is a fifth-degree penalty, according to court records. It is a violation of law for someone without legal status in the United States to possess a firearm and ammunition.

On Friday, he also was in possession of a fixed-blade hunting knife and $3,000 in cash.

Roberts began working for the school district in 2023 after the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners granted Roberts a license to serve in Iowa as a superintendent.

Before coming to Iowa, he had been the superintendent of Middlecreek Township School District in Erie, Pa., since August 2020. Before that, he was chief schools officer for Aspire Public Schools Oakland, Calif., from 2018-2020.

The district said a third-party comprehensive background check was conducted on Roberts, and he was required to verify employment eligibility for all employees. The search found he held educational leadership positions in the U.S. for more than 20 years.

“We do not have all the facts. There is much we do not know,” school board President Jackie Norris said Friday during a news conference. “However, what we do know is Dr. Roberts has been an integral part of our school community since he joined two years ago.”

Later Friday, the district said in a news release that it “has not been formally notified by ICE about this matter, nor have we been able to talk with Dr. Roberts since his detention.”

Weapons are prohibited on school grounds, at school-sponsored events and at school-related activities.

Associate Superintendent Matt Smith will serve as interim superintendent, having previously served as interim superintendent during the 2022-23 school year. The district is the largest in Iowa with more than 30,000 students and nearly 5,000 teachers in more than 60 schools, according to its website.

“Unfortunate situations like today underscore exactly why we must fix our broken immigration system. An individual with a prior weapons charge and an active deportation order should never have been placed in this position of public trust,” Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, who serves the Des Moines area, posted on X.

U.S. Rep. and Iowa Senate candidate Ashley Hinson wrote on X that “He should be deported immediately. He should have never been anywhere around Iowa kids in the first place!”

Roberts, who was born in Guyana in 1973, competed for the South American nation in the 2000 Sydney Olympics in track and field as an 800-meter runner, coming in next to last in his heat.

“After transitioning from my professional track and field career, I embarked on a mission to transform schools,” he wrote on his LinkedIn Profile. “I’ve been in the trenches as a teacher in Brooklyn, New York, Prince Georges County, Maryland, and Baltimore City, where I earned the honor of being named Teacher of the Year for two consecutive years.

“Throughout my career, my Olympic tenacity has fueled my commitment to achieving excellence in education. I’ve led schools to achieve unprecedented gains in college acceptance/enrollment, increased attendance, and academic achievement.”

He received a doctorate from Trident University in Arizona, masters’ degrees from St. John’s and Georgetown and a bachelor’s from Morgan State. He went to Harvard’s graduate school of education and MIT’s School of Management.