Des Moines Public School system hired superintendent with extensive criminal history

By Bethany Blankley reporter
The Center Square

The Des Moines Public School Board hired a Guyanan national who had been living in the U.S. illegally for years and has an extensive criminal history dating to 1996.

The board sued the Texas-based search firm on Thursday and U.S. Immigration and Customs and Enforcement released more information about his extensive criminal record on Friday.

ICE arrested the now former DMPS superintendent, Ian Andre Roberts, after he fled using a school district vehicle. He was in possession of a loaded handgun, a fixed blade hunting knife and $3,000 in cash when he was arrested, The Center Square reported.

The school board initially said it “did not have any knowledge” of his immigration status or final removal order from a federal immigration judge. On Thursday, it sued the Texas-based firm it used to hire him, One-Fourth Consulting LLC d/b/a JG Consulting.

“The search firm failed in their duty to properly vet the candidates and Ian Roberts should have never been presented as a potential Superintendent,” DMPS Board Chair Jackie Norris said. “JG Consulting’s contract required them to bring all known information of a positive or negative nature to the Board, and since that did not happen the Board will pursue aggressive legal action in accordance with the law.” The lawsuit alleges breach of contract and negligence.

Norris also said the board “was deceived by Ian Roberts and on behalf of our students, teachers, parents and community – we demand answers.”

Also on Thursday, he was charged with “being an illegal alien in possession of firearms.”

On Friday, ICE released Roberts’ criminal and immigration history stating they “reveal a long record of criminal conduct in the United States. He should never have been serving in a role overseeing children in Iowa’s largest school district.”

Roberts was first charged on July 3, 1996, with “criminal possession of narcotics with intent to sell, criminal possession of narcotics, criminal possession of a forgery instrument and possession of a forged instrument” in New York, ICE said. On Nov. 13, 1998, Roberts was charged with third-degree unauthorized use of a vehicle in Queens, New York; the charges were dismissed the following year, ICE said.

On Nov. 1, 2012, he was convicted for reckless driving, unsafe operation and speeding in Maryland, ICE said.

On Feb. 3, 2020, Roberts was charged with “second-degree criminal possession of a weapon (having a loaded firearm outside his home or business); third-degree criminal possession of a weapon (an ammunition feeding device); and fourth-degree weapon charges,” ICE said.

Two years later, on Jan. 20, 2022, he was convicted of unlawful possession of a loaded firearm in Pennsylvania.

His immigration history includes two visas and four applications for a green card, which were all denied. He also left and reentered the country multiple times, ICE said.

Roberts first entered the U.S. on a B-2 nonimmigrant visa in June 1994 at JFK International Airport in New York, “classified as a visitor for pleasure,” ICE said.

Three years later, in March 1999, he reentered the U.S. through San Francisco International Airport on an F-1 student visa. He later departed and reentered the U.S. multiple times through San Francisco and JFK on the same visa, ICE said.

Six months later, he filed an application for employment authorization, which U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services granted, set to expired in April 2001. He left and reentered the U.S. again through JFK using the same visa, ICE said.

By May 2001, he filed his first green card application, which was rejected two years later. He filed his second application in May 2018, which also was rejected. He then filed his third green card application not soon after, which was also rejected, ICE said.

In July 2018, he again filed for employment authorization, which was granted, set to expire in December 2019. He then filed a fourth green card application, which was rejected, and another employment authorization, which was approved, set to expire in December 2020.

Since then, for nearly five years, Roberts has been working in the U.S. without federal authorization, according to USCIS and ICE.

It would take from July 1996 when Roberts was first charged with multiple felonies to Oct. 2, 2020, when USCIS issued him a Notice to Appear before a federal immigration judge.

It would take another four years, in May 2024, for a judge to order his removal in absentia because he didn’t show up to his hearing. Roberts’ motion to reopen his case was denied.

It would take another nearly 18 months for ICE to arrest him in Des Moines. He remains in U.S. Marshals custody.