ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First/Gray News) – The brother of a man convicted of murdering a nursing student in Georgia was sentenced for providing a fraudulent document to law enforcement during the investigation.
Officials said Diego Ibarra, 29, was found with the fraudulent document while law enforcement began investigating 22-year-old Laken Riley’s death last year.
He was arrested after a police officer approached him “because he matched the description of a suspect in the homicide investigation” and showed a fake green card, the U.S. Department of Justice said at the time.
Ibarra pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of a fraudulent document in July 2024. He was sentenced to four years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia.
He is the older brother of Jose Ibarra, who was convicted of killing nursing student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus. He was sentenced to life in prison.
The U.S. attorney’s office said Diego, who is from Venezuela like his brother, will be placed in ICE custody when his federal prison sentence is over and deported.
Diego illegally entered the United States in April 2023, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
Riley’s death sparked national outrage and the issue of immigration was at the forefront of President Donald Trump’s campaign to return to the White House.
The Laken Riley Act was the first piece of legislation Trump signed into law shortly after his January inauguration.
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