What Happened
A Salvadoran national with four prior DWI convictions — including three felonies — was found guilty of drunk driving on Long Island for the fifth time, capping a case that began in the early morning hours of November 29, 2025, on Longneck Boulevard in Southampton.
According to Long Island Life & Politics, Pablo Aguilar-Alvarez, 36, got behind the wheel of a car at approximately 1:24 a.m. that night after an evening of drinking. He drove with his girlfriend to the USA Gas Station at the intersection of Flanders Road and Longneck Boulevard in Southampton to purchase more alcohol. While inside the store, Aguilar-Alvarez’s girlfriend approached the clerk and asked her to call 911. The couple then left the gas station in the vehicle.
Southampton Town Police, responding to the 911 call — which included a physical description of the vehicle and its license plate number — quickly located Aguilar-Alvarez’s car. Before initiating a traffic stop, officers personally witnessed Aguilar-Alvarez fail to stop at a stop sign and cross over the double-yellow center line on Longneck Boulevard. When officers pulled the vehicle over, Aguilar-Alvarez exited from the passenger side of the car in what prosecutors characterized as an attempt to conceal the fact that he had been driving.
The maneuver did not work. Aguilar-Alvarez failed standardized field sobriety tests administered at the scene and subsequently consented to a chemical breath test. That test returned a blood alcohol content of 0.17% — more than twice New York’s legal limit of 0.08%, and narrowly below the 0.18% threshold that triggers an Aggravated DWI charge under state law.
On August 7, 2026, following a jury trial, Aguilar-Alvarez was convicted of one count of Driving While Intoxicated Per Se and one count of Driving While Intoxicated, both Class D felonies, and one count of Aggravated Unlicensed Operation of a Motor Vehicle in the Second Degree, an Unclassified misdemeanor. As reported by Long Island Life & Politics, this conviction marked Aguilar-Alvarez’s fifth DWI within the past 10 years, with four of those convictions — including this one — being felonies.
His prior record is extensive. Aguilar-Alvarez was previously convicted of Aggravated Driving While Intoxicated, a Class D felony, on June 16, 2022; Driving While Intoxicated, a Class E felony, on October 11, 2017; Driving While Ability Impaired, Combined Drugs and Alcohol, a Class E felony, on April 19, 2017; and Driving While Intoxicated, an Unclassified misdemeanor, on May 14, 2012. Immigration records further indicate that Aguilar-Alvarez was deported from the United States on March 1, 2024, on the basis of those prior felony convictions, and is currently illegally present in the country.
Following the guilty verdict, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office asked the court to remand Aguilar-Alvarez into custody, citing both his status as a fourth-time felony DWI convict and the office’s stated belief that he was planning to flee Suffolk County. Suffolk County Court Judge Bryan L. Browns, who presided over the trial, denied that request and released Aguilar-Alvarez pending sentencing. Sentencing is scheduled for October 2, 2026, before Judge Browns. Aguilar-Alvarez faces up to 2⅓ to seven years in state prison.
Location & Road Context
The traffic stop took place on Longneck Boulevard in Southampton, near the USA Gas Station at its intersection with Flanders Road — a commercial corridor in the Town of Southampton on the East End of Long Island. Longneck Boulevard connects to the broader Flanders–Riverside–Northampton area, a stretch of roadway that handles significant local and seasonal traffic. The double-yellow center line Aguilar-Alvarez was observed crossing marks a two-way undivided roadway where lane violations create direct head-on collision risk with oncoming vehicles. Visit our Southampton roads page for ongoing traffic and safety updates in that corridor.
Investigation & Legal Proceedings
The case was prosecuted by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, which provided the photo used in media coverage of the verdict. Per Long Island Life & Politics, the DA’s Office sought remand after the verdict, arguing Aguilar-Alvarez’s fourth felony DWI conviction and a believed flight risk made pretrial release inappropriate. Judge Browns overruled that request. Aguilar-Alvarez remains free pending his October 2, 2026, sentencing date, at which point the Class D felony convictions expose him to a determinate sentence of 2⅓ to seven years in a New York State correctional facility.
What This DWI Charge Means
New York’s Vehicle and Traffic Law §1192 creates a tiered system of impaired-driving offenses. DWAI (Driving While Ability Impaired) applies at a BAC of 0.05–0.07% and is a traffic infraction, not a crime, on a first offense. DWI requires a BAC of 0.08% or higher and becomes a misdemeanor on a first offense; a second offense within 10 years elevates it to an E felony. Aggravated DWI — reserved for a BAC of 0.18% or higher — carries steeper fines and longer mandatory license revocation even on a first offense. Aguilar-Alvarez’s 0.17% BAC placed him just below the Aggravated DWI threshold, but his fourth-felony status drove the charges to Class D felonies, the highest tier applicable here, carrying prison exposure of 2⅓ to seven years.
For repeat felony offenders in New York, consequences compound dramatically. Mandatory ignition interlock device installation, extended or permanent license revocation, and significantly higher fines layer on top of prison time. A driver who refuses the chemical breath test entirely faces an automatic one-year license revocation under New York’s implied consent law — separate from any criminal penalty — and that refusal can be used as evidence of consciousness of guilt at trial. Aguilar-Alvarez consented to the breath test in this case, and the resulting 0.17% reading became central to the Per Se DWI conviction.
Case Status & Updates
An arrest and conviction record is a matter of public record in this case — Aguilar-Alvarez has been found guilty by a jury. Sentencing before Judge Bryan L. Browns in Suffolk County Court is set for October 2, 2026. Long Island Traffic will update this report with the sentence imposed as soon as it becomes part of the public record. Readers with information about dangerous driving in the Southampton area can contact Southampton Town Police directly or submit a tip through our accidents page.