The brother of Jose Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan unlawful immigrant convicted of killing 22-year-old nursing scholar Laken Riley Feb. 22, 2024, whereas she was jogging on the College of Georgia campus, was sentenced to jail and deportation after he pleaded responsible to having a faux inexperienced card throughout the homicide investigation.
Diego “Gocho” Ibarra, 29, of Venezuela, was sentenced Wednesday to 4 years behind bars after pleading responsible to 2 counts of possession of a fraudulent doc July 15, 2024.
The sentence was above the federal sentencing guideline vary, and he won’t be eligible for parole.
Riley’s killer, Jose Ibarra, lived along with his brothers — Diego and Argenis “Meny” Ibarra, 25, of Venezuela — and a feminine roommate, Rosbeli “La Gorda” Flores-Bello, 29, of Venezuela, in an Athens, Georgia residence complicated on the time of the homicide.
All 4 had been questioned and arrested by investigators.
Argenis Ibarra and Flores-Bello admitted to having faux inexperienced playing cards underneath totally different names Feb. 23, 2024, and pleaded responsible to possession of a fraudulent doc in December 2024.
Nonetheless, they remained within the states.
In Wednesday’s ruling, US District Choose Tilman E. Self ordered Diego Ibarra to be positioned in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody on the finish of his federal jail sentence and ordered Argenis Ibarra and Flores-Bello be positioned in ICE custody instantly.
Based on courtroom paperwork and statements, Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI) was notified of Diego Ibarra’s unlawful presence within the US Feb. 23, 2024, throughout the Laken Riley homicide investigation.
On the time, an Athens-Clarke County Police Division (ACCPD) officer trying to find Jose Ibarra approached Diego Ibarra as a result of he matched his brother’s description.
Diego Ibarra gave the ACCPD officer a faux inexperienced card when requested for identification and was taken into custody.
Investigators later found his journey to the US concerned a number of unlawful border crossings, and, as soon as within the US, his felony exercise continued.
He was first despatched again to Mexico April 3, 2023, after he was caught illegally getting into the US close to Eagle Go, Texas, in response to a press release from the US Lawyer’s Workplace for the Center District of Georgia.
Lower than a month later, on April 30, 2023, he tried once more to interrupt into the nation with 4 different Venezuelan males by crossing the border close to Ysleta Station in El Paso, Texas.
In a combat with United States Border Patrol (USBP) brokers, Diego Ibarra grabbed and threw an agent’s service radio earlier than trying to chew the agent.
The encounter was damaged up by members of the Nationwide Guard.
He was taken to a hospital after complaining of chest pains and ache in his again and leg, which he attributed to scaling and falling from the border fence throughout his unlawful crossing.
After admitting his accidents weren’t from the combat with brokers, he claimed asylum and “fear of return” to Venezuela.
ICE Enforcement and Removing Operations (ERO) positioned him within the Alternate options to Detention (ATD) program Might 11, 2023, and he was launched from immigration custody the subsequent day underneath the situation he put on a GPS ankle bracelet and report back to New York pending asylum proceedings. He by no means confirmed up.
Diego Ibarra’s ankle monitor final “pinged” close to Littleton, Colorado, Might 25, 2023, and he lower it off sooner or later earlier than his closing arrest, in response to the assertion.
He moved to Georgia, the place he briefly labored at a UGA cafeteria, and was subsequently arrested on numerous fees, together with DUI and driving with out a license Sept. 24, 2023; shoplifting Oct. 27, 2023; and shoplifting with an excellent arrest warrant Dec. 8, 2023.
ACCPD additionally responded to a home incident involving Diego Ibarra and his girlfriend Sept. 26, 2023.
Whereas jailed on the Butts County Detention Middle for the faux paperwork discovered throughout the Riley homicide investigation, Diego Ibarra triggered “severe water damage” when he broke a jail cell block fireplace sprinkler system, in response to the assertion.
On June 25, 2024, jail guards discovered Ibarra with two improvised weapons, together with a sharpened sprinkler head with a makeshift grip and a pen wrapped in saran wrap.
Court docket paperwork observe Diego Ibarra is probably going affiliated with the Venezuelan unlawful immigrant avenue gang Tren de Aragua (TdA), primarily based on proof that included his a number of TdA tattoos and photographs of him on social media making TdA gang indicators and sporting TdA clothes.
President Donald Trump on Saturday invoked the wartime Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to focus on TdA, designated a international terrorist group Feb. 20 by the Division of State.
Whereas Argenis Ibarra and Flores-Bello’s border-crossing backgrounds are much less prolonged than Diego Ibarra’s, investigators discovered Argenis Ibarra additionally entered the US illegally a number of occasions.
Argenis Ibarra entered the US illegally April 3, 2023, close to Eagle Go, Texas, and the USBP returned him to Mexico.
Lower than a month later, on April 30, 2023, the USBP arrested him once more close to El Paso, Texas, and took him to an ICE processing middle in El Paso, in response to the assertion. He was launched Might 4, 2023, “because the processing center lacked space.”
Equally, Flores-Bello was arrested after illegally getting into the nation Might 3, 2023, taken to an ICE processing middle in El Paso and launched on Might 5, 2023, “because the processing center lacked space,” in response to the assertion.
She supplied a house tackle in New York and was scheduled for an immigration courtroom listening to on Oct. 18, 2023, however took a humanitarian flight to Atlanta, Georgia, in December 2023 with Jose Ibarra, whom she met in New York.
She settled in Athens and lived with the Ibarra brothers till Laken Riley was murdered.
Jose Ibarra was convicted Nov. 20, 2024 of malice homicide, three counts of felony homicide and assault with intent to rape, amongst different fees, in Athens-Clarke County Superior Court docket.
He’s serving a life sentence.
Fox Information Digital’s Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.
