Flanders man sentenced to up to 25 years for vehicular homicide conviction

A Flanders man convicted of aggravated vehicular homicide last month after a three-week trial was sentenced today to 12 and one-half to 25 years in state prison, Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said.

Joseph Perez had a blood alcohol level nearly three times in excess of the legal limit more than three hours after mowing down newspaper delivery person Donna Sartori as she delivered papers in the Hampton Bays business district at 4:15 a.m. on January 5, 2014, Spota said in a press release.

Perez was accused of driving his F-150 pickup at a high rate of speed on Montauk Highway at 4:15 a.m. Jan. 5, 2014. He was traveling westbound near the Ponquogue Avenue intersection when he drove off the shoulder of the road, sideswiped a parked car and struck another vehicle and its driver, Sartori, who was outside of the car delivering newspapers, prosecutors said. Sartori was pronounced dead at the scene.

During the trial, evidence was introduced that Perez, 31, had consumed a bottle of whiskey before bar-hopping with friends, ending up at “Club Dream” in Hampton Bays where at closing time Perez struck a car in the parking lot and left the scene.

The victim’s husband, Anthony Guggino addressed the court at sentencing, describing Perez as “an animal” who callously ignored his dying wife at the crash scene and instead called his mother and not 911 in the minutes after the collision.

The victim’s sister, Debra Fox of Saratoga Springs, said “Donna was a healthy 56-year old woman that had a lot of life left to live. However, because of you Joseph Perez, and your reckless drinking and driving, my sister’s life was cut short.”

Citing the lengthy prison sentence, Fox said the fact remained that “someday you will be released from prison and will be reunited with your family,” telling the defendant that Sartori’s family will go on enduring “pain and sadness” during holidays and birthdays.