UMVA has learned that the former superintendent of Iowa’s largest school district has been sentenced to two years behind bars after pleading guilty to falsifying U.S. citizenship on official paperwork and illegally possessing firearms while in the country.
The once‑respected leader of Des Moines Public Schools, who oversaw education for roughly 30,000 students, now faces deportation to his native Guyana once his sentence is served, according to his attorneys.
This dramatic fall from grace marks the end of a two‑decade career in urban education, a trajectory that unraveled after a federal immigration operation led to his arrest and resignation in 2025.
Prosecutors allege Roberts deliberately misrepresented his status by submitting a counterfeit Social Security card and claiming U.S. citizenship on an application to the state’s Board of Educational Examiners, securing a professional administrator license under false pretenses.
Authorities first detained him on September 26, 2025, when ICE agents spotted his school‑issued vehicle and gave chase; he fled, abandoned the car, and tried to hide before state troopers located him.
Under the seat of the deserted vehicle, officers recovered a loaded handgun wrapped in a towel and approximately $3,000 in cash, evidence that would later anchor the weapons charge.
Roberts’ plea agreement confirmed possession of four firearms: the loaded Glock found in the car, a rifle, a shotgun, and an additional pistol uncovered during a search of his home.
His immigration woes began long before the arrest, with a notice to appear before an immigration judge in October 2020 and a final removal order issued in 2024 after his work authorization expired.
District officials claim they were unaware of any immigration issues, while Homeland Security records reveal a prior narcotics possession charge and an earlier accusation of unauthorized vehicle use, though the latter was later dismissed.
Roberts’ lawyers sought probation, but the judge rejected the request, emphasizing the seriousness of the offenses. At sentencing, the former superintendent expressed remorse for his actions.
Married to a U.S. citizen, Roberts was denied permanent residency after officials determined he had failed to disclose earlier arrests, a lapse he later rationalized as irrelevant because the charges had been dropped.
In the wake of his detention, an audit exposed that he had steered district contracts to a consulting firm with which he previously worked, prompting Des Moines Public Schools to reevaluate its conflict‑of‑interest policies.
