Brother of UGA murder suspect indicted on fake green card charge

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A brother of the man accused of killing a 22-year-old nursing student on the University of Georgia campus last month has been indicted by a federal grand jury on an unrelated charge of possessing a fake green card.

Diego Ibarra, the older brother of 26-year-old Jose Ibarra, the suspect in Laken Riley’s murder, was indicted Tuesday on one count of possession of a counterfeit immigration document.

If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine, said a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia.

Diego, 29, was arrested on Feb. 23, the same day as Jose, at an apartment complex in Athens after he allegedly presented a fake green card to law enforcement officials.

The arrests came a day after Riley’s body was found on the UGA campus.

A third Ibarra brother, 24-year-old Argenis, was also taken into custody on Feb. 23 by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Argenis is allegedly in the U.S. illegally, and is being held at an ICE facility in Lumpkin.

Like Diego, Argenis is not facing charges in connection with Riley’s death.

Diego will remain in federal custody as he awaits trial after he was denied bond last week. The judge deemed him a flight risk and a possible threat to the community based on his criminal history.

According to court documents, Diego was arrested three times in Athens before his arrest in February, once for a traffic offense and twice for shoplifting offenses.

UGA officials confirmed Diego used a fake green card to get hired as a dishwasher at a campus dining hall, but he was quickly fired before the university paid him because he “subsequently failed to submit further documentation required to keep the job.”

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