Former Des Moines superintendent who was detained by ICE federally charged
A now-former school superintendent who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents has been charged by federal prosecutors in Iowa with one count of being an "illegal alien in possession of firearms," according to court records.
Former Des Moines Public School Superintendent Ian Roberts was charged by complaint on Wednesday, according to the case docket.
He appeared briefly for an initial appearance Thursday afternoon, during which he waived his right to a detention hearing and preliminary examination, according to the docket.
The court ordered that Roberts be detained and was advised that an immigration detainer has been lodged, according to the docket.
Roberts was arrested on Thursday, according to the docket. He had been in ICE detention at the Woodbury County Jail in Sioux City, though he has since been taken into custody by the Department of Justice on a federal warrant for his arrest, according to Woodbury County Sheriff Chad Sheehan.
Roberts, 54, was initially detained by ICE agents on Friday. He was in possession of a loaded handgun, a fixed-blade hunting knife and $3,000 in cash, according to ICE.
The pistol was "wrapped in a towel under the driver's seat," according to the federal criminal complaint. It was purchased in Arkansas from a federally licensed dealer by someone who is believed to be Roberts' spouse, according to the complaint.
During a search of his residence on Friday, the complaint alleges law enforcement located a loaded pistol underneath the seat cushion of a chair in the living room, a loaded rifle in a bedroom closet and a shotgun behind a headboard in the bedroom.
The four firearms were found to be manufactured outside of Iowa and "therefore crossed a state line before Roberts possessed them," the complaint stated.
Multiple magazines and ammunition were also located during the search of his residence.
ABC News has reached out to his attorney for comment but has not yet received a response.
Roberts, a native of Guyana, entered the U.S. in 1999 on a student visa that expired in 2004, according to the complaint. He has no work authorization in the U.S. and a judge issued a final order of removal in 2024, according to ICE.
He resigned as the superintendent of the Des Moines Public Schools on Tuesday.
Roberts joined the district in July 2023 and had previously held leadership positions in school districts across the U.S. for 20 years, according to Des Moines School Board Chair Jackie Norris.
The Des Moines School Board was not aware of Roberts' immigration issues at the time of his hiring, according to Norris, who said following his detainment that the board is taking ICE's allegations "very seriously."
According to the complaint, Roberts applied with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for permanent residence four times -- once in 2001 and three times in 2018 -- but was denied.
He also applied in 2018 for an adjustment of status based on his marriage to a U.S. citizen, but it was denied in January 2020 because he "failed to respond to a request for additional information," according to the complaint.
Roberts has not had lawful employment authorization since December 2020, according to the complaint.
He was ordered removed from the U.S. on May 22, 2024, in a hearing he was not present for, and an immigration judge denied his motion to reopen immigration proceedings in April, finding that Roberts had failed to demonstrate that he did not receive notice of the 2024 hearing.
Roberts resigned as superintendent a day after the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners said it revoked Roberts' administrator license and the Des Moines School Board voted unanimously to put him on unpaid administrative leave and provide proof that he is authorized to work in the U.S. or face termination. He did not provide the board with that information, according to Norris.
"For all of us, this is not what we anticipated when we welcomed Dr. Ian Roberts into central Iowa and the Des Moines School District a little more than two years ago. It is a sad and troubling end for an individual who gave many people, especially our students, hope," Norris said during a special session on Tuesday, during which the board voted to accept Roberts' resignation.
Iowa Rep. Zach Nunn said Tuesday a "state-level investigation" into Roberts' hiring is underway.
"Local leaders owe parents an explanation, and we need stronger safeguards to ensure that positions of public trust are filled by individuals who are properly vetted and legally authorized to serve," he said in a statement.
Superintendent's past under scrutiny
One month after starting his job as superintendent, Roberts was served with a restraining order, according to the sheriff's department in Polk County, Iowa, which served notice of the order to Roberts at his office in August 2023.
The reason for the restraining order -- which was issued by a court in Jackson County, Missouri -- and the identity of the person requesting it are not known.
A spokesperson for the Polk County Sheriff's Office confirmed service of the notice to Roberts, but told ABC News he could not elaborate because the court records are sealed.
A spokesperson for Des Moines Public Schools told the Des Moines Register, which first reported on the restraining order, that the school board was not aware of the order.
Following his detainment by ICE, state elections officials in Maryland said that a man whose name matches that of Roberts was registered to vote in the state, but they say there's no record of him casting a ballot. A person matching his name, birthdate and address registered as a Democrat in 2017, according to the Maryland voter registration database.
The elections board of Maryland declined to confirm that the registered voter is in fact the former superintendent in a statement released earlier this week. The board noted in a statement that individuals are prohibited from securing voter registration unlawfully but outlined a scenario in which an ineligible voter could be "unintentionally registered to vote" via an automatic voter registration agency, such as the state's Motor Vehicle Agency.
Republican members of the Maryland House of Delegates have since pressed the elections board on how someone ineligible to vote could be "unintentionally" registered.
"Our concern is, if it's been done once, why can't it be done twice, and maybe many, many times more," GOP Maryland State Delegate Matt Morgan, the chair of the Freedom Caucus, told ABC News on Thursday. "My biggest concern is how many other people there are like him."
Roberts' resume has also come under scrutiny regarding portions of his educational history involving three universities that appear to be inflated or false.
A spokesperson for MIT's Sloan School of Management said in a statement that they have no record of Roberts attending as an MBA candidate in 2019-2021, as Roberts has claimed on his LinkedIn profile.
A spokesperson for George Washington University said the school never gave Roberts a "Principal of the Year" award in Washington, D.C., in 2013, as was stated on Roberts' since-removed superintendent biography on the Des Moines Public Schools' website. GWU, in fact, does not even issue such an award, the spokesperson said.
ABC News has reached out to the school board for comment.
On Wednesday, the school board addressed "speculation" regarding Roberts' resume regarding Morgan State University. According to the board, Roberts initially provided a resume to a consulting group in which he claimed he had a doctorate from the university, but during the background check, it was flagged that he hadn't completed the degree. The resume was revised to note that the degree was not completed, and that board members had the revised resume when they interviewed finalists for the superintendent position.
"The Board was aware Dr. Roberts did not graduate from Morgan State University at the time of his hiring," the board said.
"I want to be clear. In a world of misinformation and disinformation, speculation becomes narrative and blame is rampant," Norris said in a statement. "The Des Moines School Board is also a victim of deception by Dr. Roberts, one on a growing list that includes our students and teachers, our parents and community, our elected officials, and Iowa's Board of Educational Examiners, and others."
