ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Two men who admitted helping Sept. 11 hijackers obtain false identification cards were sentenced Friday in federal court.
Victor M. Lopez-Flores, who pleaded guilty to falsely certifying that two of the hijackers were Virginia residents, was sentenced to 27 months in prison.
Herbert Villalobos, who admitted driving the two to a lawyer’s office to get the forms, was sentenced to four months in prison. Since he had already served 4 1/2 months while awaiting sentencing, he was scheduled for immediate release.
Lopez-Flores, an illegal alien from El Salvador, received a longer sentences because he had been in the United States illegally after previously being deported for a criminal conviction.
The two hijackers, identified as Abdul Aziz Alomari and Ahmed Alghamdi, paid both men for their help. Prosecutors don’t believe either of the men knew what Alomari and Alghamdi would do.
In announcing the sentences, U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee criticized the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles for allowing people to obtain IDs without proof of residency or identity.
“Some of the fault lies with the Department of Motor Vehicles for the very lax procedures we had at that time,” the judge said.
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