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2 who helped get hijackers fake IDs sentenced

ALEXANDRIA, Virginia (CNN) -- Two Virginia men who helped two of the September 11th hijackers obtain fraudulent identification cards were sentenced Friday in federal court.

Both the defense and prosecution told the judge that neither man had any idea the Arab men they were helping were planning to carry out a terrorist plot.

Salvadoran immigrant Victor Lopez-Flores drew 27 months in prison for his role in providing official Virginia state documents to Abdul Aziz Alomari and Ahmed Saleh Alghamdi on August 2, 2001.

The second man, Herbert Villalobos, a Salvadoran native with permanent legal residence, was sentenced to four months in prison. Because Villalobos has already served that much time, he is expected to be released later Friday.

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Villalobos admits driving Alomari and Alghamdi to an attorney's office on August 2nd.

Five weeks after receiving fake documents, Alomari was on the American Flight 11 that crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Alghamdi was on United Airlines Flight 175, which flew into the South Tower.

Appearing before U.S. District Court judge Gerald Bruce Lee, Lopez-Flores -- speaking through an interpreter -- said: "I am apologizing. I was just looking for work. If I had known it, I would not have left the house that day. I ask for clemency."

The judge replied, "You were making money making false ID. Who knows what havoc may be wreaked by others who have them."

Lopez-Flores had twice entered the United States illegally. The judge said he would be deported immediately after serving his sentence and could face up to 10 years in prison if he illegally enters the United States again.

His second man's attorney, Patrick Anderson, said Villalobos criticized the government's "harsh detention" of his client, noting Villalobos had been held in solitary confinement for more than four months.

Anderson said his client is "truly sorry for his action, he hurts just like everyone else in this country for what happened on September 11th."

Villalobos, when released, is expected to continue to live with his family in the Washington area.