The former superintendent of Iowa’s largest school district was sentenced to two years in federal prison on Friday for falsely claiming to be a United States citizen and illegal possession of a firearm.
Ian Roberts, who was arrested in 2025 during the Trump Administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, tearfully pleaded for leniency from the judge, stating that his dedication to education and teaching thousands of students didn’t “excuse my poor choice, my ethical lapse” and that he let the community down.
“I regret what I’ve done every single day,” Roberts said in court.
His attorneys stated that once Roberts has completed his sentence, he will be deported to his native Guyana in South America. When he was arrested last year, it sent shockwaves through the community. He was pulled over in his school-issued vehicle on Sept. 26 of last year, possessing a handgun wrapped inside of a towel along with $3,000 cash. During a search of his primary residence, three additional weapons were found.
Roberts initially came to the United States on a student visa in 1999, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. At the time of his arrest and subsequent dismissal from the Des Moines Independent Community School District, he was earning an annual salary of $286,716. Roberts’ attorneys alleged that he was denied lawful permanent residency by marrying a U.S. citizen because he failed to disclose on his residency application that he had previously been arrested. Roberts argued that since the charges were dropped, he did not need to include that information on the form.
In her sentencing, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger said that prohibition for Roberts was not sufficient given that he lied to earn an “incredible position of trust.”
Prosecutors initially sought a three-year sentence in the case.
