Illegal Immigrant Pleads Guilty To Vehicular Homicide

Yesterday an illegal immigrant from Guatemala pleaded guilty to a November drunk and driving charge where a Weedsport man was left dead.

According to AuburnPub, Yesterday Heriberto Perez-Velasquez appeared in Cayuga County Court before Judge Thomas Leone and pleaded guilty to Aggravated Vehicular Homicide in connection to his November 2019 arrest.

On November 10, 2019, Perez-Velasquez was operating a vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration level three times the legal limit. He ran his vehicle into a tractor that was being operated by 59-year-old Mark Knapp in Weedsport. Perez-Velasquez hit the tractor with such force that the heavy frame was bent and the vehicle overturned. Mr. Knapp was ejected from his vehicle and he died at the scene. Perez-Velasquez ran from the scene but he was apprehended a short while later.

Approximately a month prior to the Weedsport incident, Perez-Velasquez was arrested in Wayne County on another drunken driving charge. He was arraigned in court but was not held in custody, he only received an appearance ticket. That is why he was not in custody on November 10, and he was able to continue to operate a motor vehicle while intoxicated.

Perez-Velasquez is originally from Guatemala. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities say that he is in the United States illegally and was previously deported in 2007. He was convicted in the spring for re-entering the United States illegally and another deportation order has been issued.

Perez-Velasquez could be sentenced to a term of 7 to 24 years in state prison. Prosecutors do not want him to be deported until he completes his prison sentence.