Let go in NY before fed bid to hold him
The Venezuelan national charged in the death of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley twice slipped through the hands of law enforcement last year — and could have been deported after a bust in the Big Apple.
Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, who is facing murder charges in the death of the 22-year-old coed, was arrested in Queens Aug. 31 and charged with endangering a child — but was cut loose before immigration officials could file a request to ask local cops to hold him in custody, authorities said Monday.
Ibarra was also wanted on an arrest warrant in Georgia for blowing off a shoplifting court appearance in December, one lawmaker said.
“ICE confirmed what we already know: Jose Ibarra was in the country illegally,” US Rep. Houston Gaines (R-Ga.) posted on X Monday, along with the arrest report. “What the media hasn’t reported was that he was cited in Athens for shoplifting in Oct. — & there was a bench warrant for his arrest for failing to show in court.”
Riley was brutally murdered while out on a run on the University of Georgia campus Thursday.
Ibarra was arrested the following day and is being held without bail.
He first dodged the law in New York last year, when he was released before an immigration request to hold him was filed with the NYPD. The request would have triggered the deportation process, an agency spokesman told The Post Monday.
“He was released by the NYPD before a detainer could be issued,” the spokesman said. “On Feb. 23, 2024, [Enforcement and Removal Operations] Atlanta encountered Ibarra pursuant to him being arrested by the University of Georgia Police Department and charged with murder and other crimes.”
The agency said an immigration detainer has been filed against Ibarra in Georgia. With a detainer in place, immigration officials would take Ibarra into custody if he is released or, if he is convicted, after he finishes his prison term. He would then be deported.
Arrest history
The accused killer entered the US illegally in El Paso, Texas, on Sept. 8, 2022, with his wife and her son seeking asylum, and was released “for further processing,” ICE said.
He wound up in New York City, where he worked in food delivery and at an unidentified restaurant.
On Aug. 31, cops allegedly spotted him riding a scooter in Queens with his 5-year-old stepson on board — with the child not wearing a safety helmet or required child restraints, according to police.
Ibarra was charged with a felony and released. He then joined his brother, Diego Ibarra, in Athens, Ga., not far from the university campus where Riley was beaten to death last week.
On Oct. 27, he was arrested in an Athens Walmart store and charged with shoplifting, the arrest report shows — only to miss a court appearance and have a warrant issued on Dec. 20, Gaines said.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has stepped up calls for Athens District Attorney Deborah Gonzalez to throw the book at Ibarra, the Athens Banner-Herald reported. Asked Monday if he trusted the prosecutor — who has come under fire from the GOP for her allegedly soft-on-crime reputation — to bring Ibarra to justice, Kemp told reporters, “Well, she best do that.”
Ibarra’s brother, Diego, who previously worked at the university, has been taken into custody by ICE for falsifying his green card to land the job, authorities said.
A funeral for Riley, who transferred from the University of Georgia to the Augusta University School of Nursing last year, will be held Friday.