Pablo Aguilar-Alvarez, 36, was turned over to ICE after a fresh arrest for driving without a license.
Aguilar-Alvarez, an El Salvador native, was busted by Riverhead police on Monday, Suffolk County authorities said Tuesday. The arrest came less than two weeks after he was convicted of his fourth felony DWI in a decade, and just days after Suffolk County Judge Bryan Browns released him without bail pending sentencing.
District Attorney Ray Tierney ripped the no-bail release in a statement Tuesday, calling Aguilar-Alvarez a lethal menace to Long Island roads. “It is self-evident that given his history of multiple felony convictions, Pablo Aguilar-Alvarez is a clear and present danger to any Suffolk County citizen traveling on our roads,” Tierney said.
“He is a repeat felony drunk driver who does not belong behind the wheel,” the DA continued.
Tierney added that Aguilar-Alvarez’s latest arrest proved his office’s warnings were warranted. “Less than two weeks after his fourth felony DWI conviction, and despite explicit instructions not to drive, the defendant once again got behind the wheel of a vehicle,” he said.
The timeline of Aguilar-Alvarez’s case has drawn intense scrutiny. He was convicted by a Suffolk jury on August 7 of felony drunk driving, but Judge Browns ordered him freed on August 10 without posting bail, despite prosecutors’ objections. He faced up to seven years in prison at his scheduled October 2 sentencing.
Less than ten days after that release, Aguilar-Alvarez was pulled over in Riverhead and found to be driving without a license, authorities said. He was issued a summons for misdemeanor aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle. The court had explicitly barred him from operating any vehicle while awaiting sentencing.
Prosecutors consulted with federal immigration officials following the latest arrest. Aguilar-Alvarez was taken into ICE custody as he was leaving the DA’s office after being processed on the new charge, authorities said.
His immigration history compounds the legal mess. Aguilar-Alvarez was deported to El Salvador on March 1, 2024, following his third DWI conviction, but subsequently reentered the United States illegally, the DA’s office said. His prior arrests for drunk driving stretch back to 2012, with additional busts in 2017 and 2022, according to prosecutors.
In the viral moment that preceded the ICE handover, Aguilar-Alvarez’s no-bail release had already triggered outrage from Tierney’s office. The DA had asked Judge Browns to remand him to jail until sentencing, arguing he was likely to flee and would not return for his court date. The judge declined. “There is no question Pablo Aguilar-Alvarez is a danger to society,” Tierney railed in an earlier statement after the verdict. “Despite multiple prior felony DWI convictions, this defendant once again chose to get behind the wheel after drinking, putting everyone on the road at risk…And even now, despite the jury’s verdict, there is nothing to stop him from once again getting behind the wheel and endangering the lives of Suffolk County residents,” he stated.
Tierney said Tuesday that his office still plans to bring Aguilar-Alvarez back to Suffolk County to face sentencing on the felony DWI conviction, as well as the new summons for unlicensed driving.
Aguilar-Alvarez is scheduled to be sentenced in Suffolk County on October 2.