Ian Roberts, illegal immigrant who was school superintendent in Iowa, pleads guilty to two felonies

Ian Roberts, the illegal immigrant who held repeated high-profile jobs in school systems across the country, pleaded guilty Thursday to having lied about his citizenship to gain jobs and to possessing guns even though it was illegal for him to do so.

Roberts admitted that he knew he was in the country illegally last September when he was working as superintendent of public schools in Des Moines, Iowa.

He appeared in court in a striped Polk County inmate’s uniform, KCCI-TV reported, where he pleaded guilty to making a false statement for employment and to being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm. Both are felonies.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 29, and he will remain in custody until then.

Roberts had several periods of quasi-legal status and work authorization, but he admitted in his signed plea agreement that he was never a citizen, despite telling the school system in 2023 that he was. He falsely claimed citizenship on his I-9 work authorization paperwork that he filed with the school system.

Homeland Security has said Roberts was ordered deported in 2024 but was defying that order.

When U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers tracked him down last September, they found him in possession of a Glock 9mm pistol in his vehicle. And when searching his home, they found three other guns.

Illegal immigrants are generally barred from possessing firearms.

Roberts’ arrest last year sparked initial indignation from school officials and students, who proclaimed him a brilliant educator and a poor target for ICE enforcement.

But as details emerged about a life filled with lies, Roberts’ support dissipated.

The school system said he provided false information, claiming to have earned a doctoral degree from Morgan State University.

He resigned from the superintendent’s position on Sept. 30, as the school board was preparing to boot him.

Roberts, a citizen of Guyana, first entered the U.S. in 1994 on a tourist visa. He departed but returned by 1996, when he began to amass a criminal record.

Homeland Security said he faced charges of drug dealing in 1996, was convicted of reckless driving in Maryland in 2012, and was charged with a weapons violation in Pennsylvania in 2020.

He was in the U.S. on a student visa at some points, earned several periods of work authorization and repeatedly filed for green cards but was rejected. His most recent employment authorization expired in 2020, DHS said.

During his time here, he has worked in education in New York, Baltimore, Washington, St. Louis, Oakland, California and Millcreek Township, Pennsylvania. That school system has said he also deceived them about his citizenship.

Roberts ran track for Guyana at the 2000 Olympics.

He has taken to musing about his situation in online posts, focusing heavily on themes of false claims and redemption.

“I am many things: an immigrant, an Olympian, a scholar, an educator, and a person navigating a complex immigration system with little room for nuance. But more than any title, I am someone who has dedicated his life to service,” he wrote. “That won’t change — no matter where I stand.”

In a Jan. 13 post, he said he’s become a sort of counselor to fellow detainees at the Polk County Jail. He said his parting advice to them is an affirmation: “I am better than the worst thing I’ve ever done.”