The previous superintendent of Iowa’s largest college district who was arrested final yr within the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown was sentenced Friday to 2 years in jail.
Attorneys for Ian Roberts mentioned they anticipate he’ll prone to be deported to his native Guyana in South America as soon as he serves the sentence. He pleaded responsible in January to falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen and illegally possessing firearms.
Prosecutors alleged Roberts knowingly lacked employment authorization for almost all of his two-decade profession in city training and submitted a counterfeit Social Safety card when he was employed to guide the Des Moines public college district, which serves 30,000 college students.
His September arrest outraged and surprised the Des Moines group as President Donald Trump’s mass deportation marketing campaign was escalating in cities throughout the nation. Roberts was topic to a closing removing order issued in 2024.
Roberts, who appeared within the courtroom Friday together with his wrists and toes cuffed, spoke to U.S. District Decide Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger for almost a half hour. He pleaded for leniency as he acknowledged that his dedication to educating hundreds of youngsters and his achievements didn’t “excuse my poor alternative, my moral lapse,” and he mentioned he knew he had dissatisfied many individuals, together with youngsters.
Roberts wiped away tears as he described a letter he obtained from a Des Moines second grader.
“I remorse what I’ve performed each single day,” Roberts mentioned.
His attorneys had proposed that he be placed on probation to facilitate his removing from the USA, however prosecutors had argued that his doubtless deportation shouldn’t be an element. They sought a three-year sentence, on the prime finish of the sentencing pointers.
In explaining her resolution, Ebinger mentioned Roberts knowingly lied about his citizenship standing to earn an “unbelievable place of belief” and mentioned it was “not an remoted moral lapse.” Whereas describing the handfuls of letters of assist that had been submitted on his behalf as highly effective and mitigating, she mentioned probation was not a enough sentence.
Additionally within the courtroom Friday had been Roberts’ spouse, buddies and colleagues, together with Nicole Value, an training guide with whom Roberts labored for years.
Des Moines Public Faculties mentioned final month that it revised its conflict-of-interest coverage after an audit discovered Roberts awarded district enterprise to Value’s consulting agency that he labored for, affirming findings first reported by The Related Press within the weeks after federal immigration officers detained him.
Roberts was in his school-issued car when officers stopped him on Sept. 26 in a focused U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation. He allegedly fled earlier than he was situated with the assistance of state troopers. Authorities mentioned a loaded handgun was wrapped in a towel below the seat and $3,000 in money was within the automobile. Three different weapons had been recovered throughout a search of his dwelling.
Attorneys for Roberts mentioned he was denied lawful everlasting residency after marrying a U.S. citizen as a result of he had did not disclose in his software that he had been arrested. He mentioned he didn’t suppose he wanted to as a result of the costs towards him had been dropped.
“Whereas Dr. Roberts tried to regulate his standing three extra occasions, this preliminary mistake by Dr. Roberts sealed his destiny,” his attorneys wrote in a submitting. “Within the background of his profession for the following 24 years, this denial of his adjustment of standing haunted Dr. Roberts like a ghost, finally derailing his life and profession.”
