Former Iowa superintendent to be sentenced for claiming to be a US citizen before likely deportation

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The former superintendent of Iowa’s largest school district is set to learn Friday how long he will be in prison for falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen and illegally possessing firearms. He would serve his sentence before he is likely deported.

Ian Roberts, a native of Guyana in South America, pleaded guilty in January to both counts, which together carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. His lawyers are proposing that he be put on probation “to facilitate his removal from the United States,” but federal prosecutors are recommending he serve 37 months – just over three years – in prison, according to court documents.

Prosecutors alleged Roberts knowingly lacked employment authorization for nearly all of his two-decade career in urban education and submitted a counterfeit Social Security card when he was hired as superintendent of the Des Moines public school district, which serves 30,000 students.

From Roberts’ Sep. 26 arrest to Friday’s sentencing hearing, the stunning case has bookended the school year. Des Moines Public Schools said last month that it revised its conflict-of-interest policy after an audit found Roberts awarded district business to a consulting firm he worked for, affirming findings first reported by The Associated Press in the weeks after federal immigration officers detained him.

Roberts was targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and pulled over in his school-issued Jeep Cherokee. He allegedly fled before he was located with the help of state troopers. Authorities said a loaded handgun was wrapped in a towel under the seat and there was $3,000 in cash in the car. Three other weapons were recovered during a search of his home.

In a court filing, attorneys for Roberts said he has dedicated his life in the U.S. to public service and, despite his failures to comply with federal laws, has not been a threat to public safety. After Roberts married a U.S. citizen, his attorneys said, he was denied lawful permanent residency because he failed to disclose at the time that he had been arrested. He said he did not think he needed to because the charges against him were dropped.

“While Dr. Roberts tried to adjust his status three more times, this initial mistake by Dr. Roberts sealed his fate,” his attorneys wrote. “In the background of his career for the next 24 years, this denial of his adjustment of status haunted Dr. Roberts like a ghost, eventually derailing his life and career.”

Dozens of people submitted letters of Roberts’ behalf to dispute the way he has been portrayed and provide details of his positive impact. His lawyers note he likely faces deportation back to Guyana, where he will “be left without his career, without his wife, without his children, in a country where he has not lived for thirty years,” they wrote. “While it is the correct outcome, it is also going to already be incredibly harsh on Dr. Roberts.”

Prosecutors said Roberts “placed his self-interest above the law and the duty he owed the public he served.” In recommending a three-year sentence, prosecutors described a yearslong and deliberate misrepresentation of his legal status. They said they do not know what documents Roberts presented to show eligibility for work dating back to 2008, years before he was approved for temporary status in 2018, but he “deliberately obtained employment without work authorization at school after school, within state after state” despite knowing he was not in the U.S. lawfully.

Prosecutors argued that is relevant and should be factored into the judge’s decision on his sentence, adding that a reduced sentence is not appropriate just because Roberts is likely to be deported.

Roberts “cultivated a public image grounded in integrity, leadership, and authenticity,” prosecutors wrote. Yet, he “engaged in conduct that undermined those values.”