By Luis De Jesus
Feb 26, 2024, 9:24 PM EST
The United States Department of Justice reported this Monday that Diego Ibarra, brother of the suspect accused of murdering a student on the University of Georgia campus last Thursday, was arrested and accused of possessing a false residence card, known as ‘ green card’.
Diego Ibarra, 29 years old and from Venezuela, faces charges for possession of a fraudulent document and is in the custody of the Georgia authorities, the Efe news agency published.
Ibarra’s arrest comes amid the investigation into the murder of Laken Hope Riley, 22, who was found unconscious and injured in a wooded area of campus on February 22. Police determined her death to be a homicide apparently caused by blunt force trauma.
Diego is the brother of José Antonio Ibarra, 26, arrested on Friday as the main suspect in Riley’s murder while she was exercising, as she used to do every morning.
The man caught the attention of the authorities because he matched the description of the suspect in the murder of the young Augusta University Nursing student. While being interviewed by an Athens-Clarke County Police Department officer, he presented a false document, which led to his arrest for possession of a fraudulent document.
It was revealed that Diego Ibarra was previously in the custody of Immigration authorities, but was released because he “claimed to have a credible fear of returning to Venezuela” and was released on April 30, 2023.
Since then, the foreigner has been arrested three times by Athens police for various crimes, including driving under the influence of alcohol, driving without a license and shoplifting, according to the Federal Prosecutor’s Office.
How did José Antonio Ibarra enter?
José Antonio Ibarra entered the United States with his wife Layling Franco and their 5-year-old son across the border in Texas on September 8 of last year and was sent to a processing center in the area. However, he was released and transported by bus to New York City, where he was later detained and released again, his wife revealed to ThePost.
Later, the 26-year-old migrant shared smiling and carefree photographs on social networks, where he was seen in iconic places such as Times Square and Rockefeller Center.
Ibarra had jobs with companies such as DoorDash, Uber Eats and also worked at a local restaurant, according to the New York newspaper.
In August, he was arrested for endangering the welfare of a teenager after being found riding a motorcycle with Franco’s son on the back, without any type of head protection or proper restraint of the child, according to police sources. The case was later sealed.
In November, the couple separated and José moved to Georgia to live with his brother Diego, who, his social media shows, at one point worked at the University of Georgia.
Keep reading:
• Laken Riley: 7 keys to the murder of a student on the University of Georgia campus
• Venezuelan accused of killing Georgia student entered the US illegally and had been arrested in NY
• The wife of the Venezuelan suspected of murdering the student in Georgia spoke: “He was not aggressive”