Paris, Ill. (ECWd) –
On March 15, 2025, Paris District 95 School Board Candidate Andy Roberts was arrested without warrant for Domestic Battery and was held in the Edgar County Jail in an isolation cell (according to the mugshot) and was released the following day.
Sometimes in the course of current events, we must inform the public of who they may be considering voting for, especially when it involves a school board. We do not take sides, and do not promote candidates for elections, however, we believe it is our ethical duty to inform the public when candidates for public office allegedly act in a way in which they would certainly not wish to be made public and then attempt to minimize what happened.
After being tipped about the arrest of Andy “Andrew” Roberts, we emailed and messaged him for comments, asking if he was going to withdraw from the school board election in light of what happened on March 15, 2025.
Instead of responding to us, he decided to post something on is candidacy Facebook page. He is free to write what he wants, however, in his post he appeared to make a comment indicating that domestic violence is not a topic worth writing about, and then continued on to minimize what happened while not telling the entirety of the incident which caused his arrest.
In the interest of informing the public, here is what is contained within the Paris Police Department’s police reports leading up to his arrest.
From among the provided records:
- 911 received a call that [Andy Roberts] was intoxicated and shoving his wife
- upon arriving, the police officer noted victim standing on front porch holding her child, both were visibly upset
- Andy Roberts stepped outside wearing only his boxer-style underwear and appeared extremely agitated, loudly demanding to know what was happening and why they were there
- another child was on the couch visibly distraught and crying uncontrollably, she was unconsolable and appeared frightened
- the police talked to people present and those accounts aligned with what was previously mentioned, that Andy followed his wife into the living room and shoved her into the couch and her face while she was holding her youngest child (2-year-old daughter)
- Andy claimed he didn’t know what was going on and that he was asleep
- the officer arrested and transported Andy to the Edgar County Jail where he was formally charged with Domestic Battery, and in light of his evident intoxication and the emotional state of his wife and children, the officer requested he be held in the jail until his appearance before a Judge
As you can read from the reports, it was more than what Roberts stated on his Facebook post.
It is unclear if the State’s Attorney will pursue charges as there is currently nothing in the Judici court records related to this.
We would like to remind our readers that these are simply police reports of an incident, and that all people are presumed innocent unless and until found guilty in a court of law.
KRAFT FOIA_Redacted-1
