A 36-year-old man with five DWI convictions has been sentenced to up to seven years in prison after a jury found him guilty of driving drunk in Southampton, Suffolk County prosecutors said.
Pablo Aguilar-Alvarez, a Salvadoran national, was sentenced Tuesday, Sept. 22, to 2 1/3 to seven years in prison. The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said the case marked his fourth felony DWI conviction within 10 years, in addition to a previous misdemeanor DWI conviction.
Prosecutors said Aguilar-Alvarez had been drinking on Nov. 29, 2025, before driving with his girlfriend to the USA Gas Station at Flanders Road and Longneck Boulevard in Southampton to buy more alcohol. While inside the store, his girlfriend asked the clerk to call 911.
Southampton Town police located the vehicle after receiving its description and license plate number. Officers saw Aguilar-Alvarez fail to stop at a stop sign and cross the double yellow line on Longneck Boulevard before pulling him over, prosecutors said.
Aguilar-Alvarez then exited through the passenger side in an attempt to hide the fact that he had been driving, according to prosecutors. He failed field sobriety tests and registered a blood alcohol content of .17%, more than twice the legal limit.
A jury convicted Aguilar-Alvarez on Aug. 7 of felony driving while intoxicated per se, felony driving while intoxicated and second-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, a misdemeanor.
The court released him pending sentencing despite prosecutors’ request that he be remanded and explicitly barred him from driving, according to the district attorney’s office.
Ten days later, Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office investigators stopped Aguilar-Alvarez near Main Street in Riverhead and allegedly found him driving without a valid license. Federal immigration authorities subsequently detained him before returning him to Suffolk County for sentencing.
Prosecutors said Aguilar-Alvarez was deported from the United States in March 2024 and is currently in the country illegally. ICE has lodged a detainer to take custody of him following his prison sentence.
“Pablo Aguilar-Alavarez was convicted for driving while intoxicated five times yet continued to get behind the wheel drunk, placing innocent lives at risk,” District Attorney Raymond Tierney said. “His repeated disregard for the rule of law and the safety of others makes clear that he is a danger to our community.”
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Yinping Liang and Cory Neunzig of the Major Crime Bureau.
Photo: SCDA
