Two brothers from Australia were sentenced to three years supervised release and time served for helping foreign truckdrivers illegally obtain visas to work in the United States, according to published reports. The two have been in jail since their Aug. 2000 arrest.

As part of a plea bargain, Ralph Koch and Roger Koch pleaded guilty to visa fraud. Roger Koch also pleaded guilty to money laundering and was sentence to 10 weeks in jail.

In October 1999 a federal grand jury investigation led to the indictments of 10 people on charges of smuggling foreign drivers into the country to work for U.S. trucking companies, according to published reports. Two of those indicted, Hoani Harawira, of New Zealand, and Anthony Kurr, of Australia, were sentenced last week to supervised release and time served. Both pleaded guilty to visa fraud.

The Kochs were reportedly involved in the Alewide Group - one of two Little Rock, AR-based smuggling rings investigated by the grand jury. As part of their plea bargain, the brothers must testify in the October trial of two other Australians facing charges of racketeering, immigration fraud and misuse of visas.