In a memorandum of facts filed in support of detention, the federal government provided details about the arrest and previous crimes of Diego Ibarra, brother of the man accused of killing nursing student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus last month.
Diego Ibarra is not accused in connection with Riley’s death, but federal prosecutors provided a litany of crimes and allegations of crimes to support their push for his continued detention.
Ibarra’s brother, Jose Antonio Ibarra, has been charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, false imprisonment, kidnapping, hindering a 911 call, and concealing the death of another person in Riley’s death.
Both brothers applied for asylum after crossing illegally into the United States at separate times and were shipped to New York by the state of Texas. Diego Ibarra moved from there to Athens, Georgia, and his brother eventually followed after splitting from his wife, as CrimeOnline reported.
According to the memorandum for detention, police initially stopped Diego Ibarra while looking for a suspect in Riley’s murder because he resembled a photo of a potential suspect and was wearing an Adidas baseball cap, as was the potential suspect. During this encounter, police discovered that Ibarra was carrying a fake United States Permanent Resident Card (the so-called “green card,” which is actually blue).
The green card contained two conflicting birth dates for Ibarra.
Facts in Support of Motion to Detain Diego Ibarra Final Version Filed Doc. 19 by kc wildmoon on Scribd
The document outlines Ibarra’s previous violations of immigration law, including two illegal entries, and an assault on a border patrol agent. He was placed into “alternatives to detention” program and required to wear a GPS monitor, which he cut off.
Once he made his way to Athens, he had more contacts with law inforcement, including a DUI, a domestic incident involving his girlfriend, and two shoplifting incidents.
The prosecutors also claim that he could have affiliations with Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua because he was photographed wearing Chicago Bulls attire and making the “hook ’em horns” hand sign that gang members sometimes use. They also said his tattoos might be TdA tattoos, although the tattoos he has “are not exclusive to TdA, or any single gang.”
Ibarra also posted photos of himself holding a gun, and the DOJ noted that it is illegal “for a noncitizen, such as Ibarra, to possess a firearm in the United States.”
