The brother of the illegal migrant accused of killing Georgia nursing student Laken Riley pleaded guilty on Monday to using a fraudulent green card, according to the Department of Justice.
Diego Ibarra — a 28-year-old Venezuelan national and brother of Jose Ibarra, the man who has been arrested for the killing of Riley — pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of a fraudulent document, according to a press release from the Justice Department’s Middle District of Georgia. Ibarra faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine per count.
“According to court documents and statements referenced in court, Diego Ibarra admitted to possessing a counterfeit United States Permanent Resident Card in the name of Diego Jose Ibarra in Athens, Georgia, on Oct. 27, 2023, and Feb. 23, 2024,” the press release stated.
Diego Ibarra’s sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 7, according to the Department of Justice. There is no parole in the federal system.Both Diego Ibarra and his brother, Jose Ibarra, entered the U.S. illegally, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed earlier this year.
Diego was arrested on Feb. 23, the same day as his brother, after he attempted to hand law enforcement officials a fake green card. The arrest of Diego and Jose came one day after Laken Riley’s body was discovered near the University of Georgia (UGA) campus.
Riley was abducted and murdered while going for a run near the UGA campus on February 22, with a coroner later confirming that she died from blunt force trauma to the head. The murder and subsequent arrest of Jose ignited national media attention to illegal immigrant crime, leading to a recall campaign for the local mayor and the passage of a new Georgia law that requires law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
Jose pleaded not guilty to Riley’s murder in a court hearing in May.
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