Pablo Aguilar-Álvarez, 36, sentenced for fourth felony DWI in 10 years, Suffolk DA says
Aguilar-Álvarez is in the country illegally, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office. Credit: Michael A. Rupolo Sr.
A Salvadoran national was sentenced to up to 7 years in prison this week after a jury convicted him of felony driving while intoxicated — his fourth such conviction in the past 10 years, the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office said.
Pablo Aguilar-Álvarez, 36, was sentenced Tuesday, the district attorney's office said. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged a detainer seeking to take him into custody, according to the district attorney's office, which said he was deported on March 1, 2024, only to return illegally to the United States.
The district attorney's office said Aguilar-Álvarez received a sentence of 2 1/3-to-7 years for his fourth felony DWI conviction in 10 years. He also has a misdemeanor drunken driving conviction from that time.
He will be taken into ICE custody after serving his sentence, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said in a statement.
Prosecutors said that Aguilar-Álvarez drove following "an evening of drinking," and that while at a USA Gas Station in Southampton on Nov. 29, 2025, where he purchased additional alcohol, his girlfriend asked the station clerk to call 911.
Southampton Town Police later stopped his vehicle after they said officers witnessed him fail to stop at a stop sign, then cross the double-yellow centerline on Longneck Boulevard.
Prosecutors said he failed a field sobriety test — and said a subsequent breath test revealed a blood alcohol content of 0.17%.
The legal limit in New York State is 0.08%.
Aguilar-Álvarez was convicted of drunken driving and other charges on Aug. 7.
He was released pending sentencing and then arrested during a traffic stop 10 days later on Main Street in Riverhead, where he was found to be driving without a license — the license that was revoked following the Aug. 7 conviction, the district attorney's office said.
"Today’s maximum sentence holds him accountable and removes a proven threat from our roads," Tierney said.
John Valenti, a Newsday reporter since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press, Society of the Silurians and National Headliner Awards for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing. He is the author of “Swee'pea,” about New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. His debut crime novel, “For Nothing Is Hidden,” rooted in 1950s Long Island, was released in October 2025.
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