Laken Riley killer’s brothers, former roommate to be deported over fake green cards

The US Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia said in a press release on Wednesday that Diego Jose Ibarra, 29, was sentenced to 48 months in prison, above the federal sentencing guideline. He pleaded guilty in July to two counts of possession of a fraudulent document.

Argenis Ibarra, 25, was sentenced to time served. He pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a fraudulent document in December. Rosbeli Flores-Bello, 29, was also sentenced to time served and pleaded guilty to one count of possession of a fraudulent document in December. Agents also discovered counterfeit Social Security cards for Argenis Ibarra and Flores-Bello in the apartment they shared with Diego and Jose Ibarra. They admitted to possessing fraudulent green cards in the names of Argenis Jose Ibarra Ibarra and Rodrianny Brito Brito on Feb. 23, 2024.

Diego Ibarra will be placed in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody at the conclusion of his federal sentence, while Argenis Ibarra and Flores-Bello will be handed over to ICE "immediately," the press release stated.

On February 23, 2024, during the investigation into the killing of Riley, an officer with the Athens-Clarke County Police Department approached Diego Ibarra because he matched the description of the suspect, who was later identified as Jose Ibarra. Diego Ibarra handed the officer a counterfeit green card as identification and was taken into custody.

Diego Ibarra entered the country illegally on April 30, 2023 alongside four other Venezuelan men. They crossed near the Ysleta station in El Paso, Texas and fled when approached by Border Patrol agents. He resisted efforts to detain him, and attempted to bite the agent, the Department of Justice said.

He was eventually detained and taken to a local hospital after complaining of chest pains and pain in his back and leg, which he told FBI agents he got when he fell from the border fence. The DOJ said that Diego Ibarra "is likely affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA), based on evidence including his multiple TdA tattoos and photos of him on social media making the TdA gang signs and wearing TdA clothing." Further investigation revealed that he had been previously removed from the US on April 3, 2023.

ICE placed Diego Ibarra in the Alternatives to Detention program on May 11, 2023 and released him from immigration custody the following day with an ankle monitor. He was directed to report to New York City pending asylum proceedings, but failed to appear. His ankle monitor last pinged near Littleton, Colorado on May 25, 2023, and he had cut it off between then and his Athens arrest.

During his time in Athens, Diego Ibarra had been arrested three times: once on September 24, 2023 for driving under the influence of alcohol and driving without a license, once on October 26, 2023 for shoplifting, and once on December 8, 2023 for shoplifting and an outstanding warrant after he failed to appear in court for the DUI charge.

While housed in the Butts County Detention Center, Diego Ibarra caused "severe water damage" after damaging the fire sprinkler system in a jail cell block and on June 25, 2024, officers found Diego Ibarra in possession of two improvised weapons inside the jail: "a sharpened sprinkler head with a make-shift grip and a pen wrapped in saran wrap."

Argenis Ibarra entered the country illegally on April 3, 2023, near Eagle Pass, Texas, and was returned to Mexico. He was encountered by Border Patol agents again on April 30, 2023 and was arrested near El Paso, Texas. He was transported to an ICE processing center in El Paso, but was released because the center lacked space.

Flores-Bello entered the country illegally on May 3, 2023, and was arrested by Border Patrol Agents. She was also released from an ICE processing center in El Paso because the center lacked space. She took a humanitarian flight from New York to Atlanta in December 2023 with Jose Ibarra, whom she met in New York. She lived with the brothers until the killing of Riley.