A repeat drunk driver and illegal immigrant with a staggering blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit has been convicted in Suffolk County after what prosecutors say was his fourth DWI offense in a decade.
Walter Danilo Perez Sanchez, 42, a Guatemalan national, was found guilty by a jury of aggravated driving while intoxicated and other charges after authorities determined he was behind the wheel with a blood-alcohol concentration of .22%, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney announced.
“This defendant had three prior DWI convictions and still chose to drive drunk,” Tierney said. “His prior arrests have clearly failed to deter further criminal conduct.”
The conviction stems from a March 20, 2025, incident in Huntington Station, where a 911 caller reported three men fighting in a parking lot on New York Avenue.
When Suffolk County Police officers arrived, what began as a disturbance investigation quickly turned into a DWI probe. Authorities determined Perez Sanchez had driven a silver Toyota RAV4 to the location while intoxicated.
Officers reported he reeked of alcohol, had bloodshot and glassy eyes, slurred speech and struggled to maintain his balance. He also failed a series of field sobriety tests, prosecutors said.
Perez Sanchez later consented to a blood test at Huntington Hospital, where results showed a .22% BAC, nearly three times New York's legal limit of .08%.
Jurors convicted him of aggravated DWI, felony DWI, unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle and circumventing an ignition interlock device.
The conviction follows prior DWI convictions in 2019, 2023 and 2024, including two felony DWI counts in his most recent case.
Despite prosecutors seeking to have him taken into custody following the verdict, the court allowed Perez Sanchez to remain free pending sentencing.
Perez Sanchez is scheduled to return to court July 27 for sentencing and faces up to seven years in state prison. Prosecutors credited Suffolk County police and trial attorneys from the District Attorney's Office for securing the conviction and removing a chronic drunk driver from Suffolk County roads.