On Thursday, illegal alien and former Des Moines School District Superintendent Ian Andre Roberts was indicated by a grand jury on two counts: The first was for false statements given to secure employment at the district; the second was for illegal possession of firearms pursuant to Title 18, United States Code, Section 922(g)(5).
As RedState reported, on September 26, Roberts was apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on a removal order because Roberts was in the country illegally, and had been for decades. More detail surrounding the charges was supplied through an ICE criminal complaint and the grand jury indictment.
When Roberts was apprehended, he had abandoned a school-issued Jeep Cherokee and ran away on foot, hiding in what was described as high grass. According to the ICE criminal complaint, an ICE officer stayed with the vehicle until a Supervisory Public Safety Specialist with the Des Moines Public Schools could arrive to take possession of the vehicle. It was the Supervisory Public Safety Specialist who located, in a towel under the driver's seat, the Glock-19 chambered and loaded with 9mm Luger ammunition. The serial number was intact. The Glock also had a pistol light and a red dot optic attached.
Why would a school superintendent need this type of enhanced weaponry? Since the vehicle was technically school property, Roberts was also in violation of school district policy that prohibits weapons on any district property.
ICE took the pistol into custody and immediately sent it to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) for emergency processing. The processing report revealed that Roberts' wife, known to law enforcement as Lenisha Roberts, had purchased this weapon and was its legal owner. Mrs. Roberts had purchased the Glock in 2019 in Little Rock, AR.
Detailed in the criminal complaint and not previously reported, next to the firearm found in the car were Roberts' wallet and a current passport issued in Guyana, Roberts' country of origin. The passport had been renewed in April 2024, and is valid until April 2029. This renewal date is a month before Roberts was supposed to appear in immigration court concerning his illegal status. Roberts' failure to appear at this hearing in May 2024 expedited his removal from the country. In April 2025, an immigration judge rejected Roberts' appeal to have his case reopened and upheld the order to remove him from the United States.
ICE obtained a warrant to search Roberts' Des Moines home, and it revealed Roberts maintained an arsenal of weaponry. Namely:
- A loaded and chambered Sig Sauer, Model P320 9mm pistol stuffed underneath the seat cushion of a living room chair.
- A loaded rifle: Remington, Model 783, .270 WIN in the master bedroom closet.
- A Remington, Model 870, 20-gauge shotgun behind the master bedroom headboard.
The criminal complaint further read:
Also located in ROBERTS' residence were multiple firearm magazines to include Glock nine-millimeter magazines, assorted ammunition in various calibers to include numerous FC nine-millimeter ammunition, a book titled "Concealed Carry and Home Defense Fundamentals", and packaging for a Streamlight pistol flashlight.
The pistol flashlight affixed to the Glock, Model 19, nine-millimeter pistol that was located in the Jeep Cherokee was a Streamlight pistol flashlight. Both the Glock, Model 19, nine-millimeter pistol (seized by ICE) and the Sig Sauer, Model P320, nine-millimeter (recovered during the search warrant) contained FC nine-millimeter ammunition and similar red dot optics.
One could make the excuse that Roberts was merely a gun enthusiast. However, the particular placement throughout the house, the enhancements included with the weapons, and the fact that every weapon was armed and ready to go, brings that supposition into question. ICE also uncovered two "firearm declaration tags issued by Southwest Airlines," one with an address in Erie, PA, the other with Roberts' Des Moines address. After another ATF examination, the complaint confirmed that the firearms had been manufactured outside of Iowa and had crossed state lines in order for Roberts to be in possession of them.
The four firearms described in this affidavit were examined by an ATF Interstate Nexus Expert. The examination revealed these firearms had been manufactured outside the state of Iowa and, thus, necessarily crossed a state line before ROBERTS possessed them.
Roberts was also in possession of a Ford Mustang at his Des Moines residence, which also served as the safe house of sorts for the documents related to his illegal status in the United States and his dealings with an immigration attorney.
In a Ford Mustang parked in the garage of ROBERTS' residence, law enforcement located United States Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review Dallas Immigration Court documents. The immigration documents were located under the floor mat in the back seat behind the driver's seat.
The immigration documents contain a copy of the May 22, 2024, order that ROBERTS be removed from the United States in absentia. Also located within the residence were copies of ROBERTS' expired passport from Guyana, issued in January 2019 and expired in January 2024, and ROBERTS' expired employment authorization card, issued in December 2018 and expired in December 2019.
This second count alone subjects Roberts to fines, up to 15 years of imprisonment, or some combination of both.
The new charge of falsifying information on an I-9 employment form (Count 1) was handed down by the grand jury. In 2023, as Roberts completed his employment documents to secure his superintendency with the Des Moines Schools District, he claimed on the I-9 form that he was a U.S. citizen.
On or about June 5, 2023, in the Southern District of lowa, the defendant, IAN ANDRE ROBERTS, for the purposes of satisfying a requirement of the employment verification system set forth in Section 1324a(b) of Title 8 of the United States Code, used a false attestation on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9, knowing that the said attestation was false, in that he attested he was a United States citizen, knowing he was not in fact a United States citizen.
This is a violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1546(b)(3).
As RedState reported, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detailed the many ways that Roberts had skirted immigration law and was in no way legally authorized to live or work in the United States.
Dive Deeper: Surprise, Surprise: DHS Releases 'Iowa Educator' Ian Roberts' Rap Sheet and History of Immigration Fraud
Since Ian Roberts' apprehension in September, several dominoes have fallen. The Iowa Board of Educational Examiners revoked Roberts' administrative license to hold his position. Roberts subsequently resigned as Des Moines superintendent of schools. On Wednesday, the Des Moines Public School District requested an audit from the Iowa Auditor's Office to “confirm the strength of [its] current processes and procedures.” This is a week after the DMPS filed to sue the consulting firm that they used to vet Roberts. On Thursday, DMPS School Board chair Jackie Norris, who it appears imagined herself the next Democrat United States senator from Iowa, suspended her campaign. In her statement, she claimed:
"The recent Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent crisis demanded my full attention as Board Chair and, overnight, put the School Board, our community, and me personally in the crosshairs of vicious and coordinated attacks."
Roberts is being held at a federal facility in Council Bluffs, IA, while he awaits trial. This is a developing story. RedState will provide updates as warranted.
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