Thread: NY - Deported immigrant back, charged with DWI

Brewster troopers: Deported immigrant back, charged with DWI, vehicular assault
By Terence Corcoran
February 16, 2009


SOUTHEAST - An illegal immigrant who was deported to his native Guatemala in 2007 after being convicted of driving while intoxicated was drunk this weekend when he crossed the center line on Route 22 near Sciortino's Restaurant and struck another car head-on, injuring its driver, state police said today.

Pedro Portillo, 33, Brewster is being held without bail at the Putnam County jail after the two-car accident at 3:30 a.m. Saturday, according to Investigator Armando Barquin of the Brewster barracks.


Portillo faces a host of felony charges, including drunken driving and vehicular assault, Barquin said.

Portillo was heading east on Route 22, near the Mobil station at Argonne Road when he crossed the center line and ran head-on into a car driven by Juan Duque, 46, of Carmel, police said.

Duque was taken by Brewster Ambulance to the Putnam Hospital Center, where he was treated for a head injury and released, police said.

Portillo was taken to the Brewster barracks, where, police said, he provided them with false identification bearing a false first name.

It was only after police faxed Portillo's fingerprints to the FBI that they learned his true identity and criminal history, Barquin said.

He was convicted of drunken driving in Brewster in 2007 after an arrest by the Brewster troopers and deported to Guatemala. He returned to the country sometime afterward and had recently been living at 167 Main St., Brewster, police said.

Police also charged Portillo with second-degree forgery, a felony, falsifying business records and criminal impersonation, misdemeanors.

Immigration officials have been notified of his arrest.

http://www.lohud.com/article/20090216/N ... 1/-1/RSS01

Was he wearing an "I (heart) NY" T-shirt?