Drunken driver who caused Woodmere crash that killed teen sentenced to up to 21 years

A West Hempstead man was sentenced Friday to up to 21 years behind bars for a 2021 crash in Woodmere that killed a 15-year-old and injured four others, Nassau officials said.

Arlin Aguilera, 37, of West Hempstead, whom a jury convicted of aggravated vehicular homicide and other charges last year, was sentenced to 7 to 21 years in prison, Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said in a news release.

On Dec. 11, 2021, at around 11 p.m. Aguilera was driving a 2014 Ram 1500 pickup truck north on Peninsula Boulevard above 70 mph while intoxicated, Donnelly’s office said in the release. The speed limit for the roadway was 30 mph, Newsday previously reported. He then crashed into an Audi Q5 loaded with five people as it turned toward the southbound lanes of Peninsula Boulevard.

One of the four teenage passengers, Liel Namdar, a 15-year-old sophomore at Torah Academy for Girls in Far Rockaway, "suffered severe head trauma" and died, Donnelly’s office said.

"Liel Namdar was excited to be reunited with her friends from summer camp and hopped into the back of the car with them, ready for a fun night ahead," Donnelly said in a statement. "But tragically, Liel never left that car alive, because Arlin Aguilera, drunk and speeding, barreled into the vehicle and killed her."

The adult driver of the Audi suffered "a severe traumatic brain injury, clavicle fracture and jaw fracture," while the other three teens who were passengers sustained myriad injuries, according to the district attorney’s release.

Days before he was scheduled to appear at his trial on Aug. 12, 2024, Aguilera fled Nassau County, "and remained a fugitive from justice" until Nassau fugitive squad detectives and U.S. marshals arrested him in Uniondale on Oct. 27, Donnelly said.

Aguilera was tried in absentia and convicted on Aug. 21 of aggravated vehicular homicide, second-degree manslaughter, two counts of second-degree assault, two counts of third-degree assault and two counts of driving while intoxicated, according to Donnelly’s office.

Mitchell Elman and Jason Krinsky, the defense attorneys listed as representing Aguilera in Donnelly’s release, did not immediately respond for comment Friday evening.