Undocumented Immigrant Accused In Fatal Drunken Driving Crash To Remain Jailed

By Sophie Nieto-Munoz, New Jersey Monitor

August 22, 2025

TOMS RIVER — The undocumented immigrant accused of driving drunk and killing two people in Lakewood last month, landing himself at the center of a political firestorm because of his immigration status, will remain jailed pending trial.

Raul Luna-Perez, a 43-year-old resident of Red Bank, consented during a brief hearing in front of Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan on Monday to remain detained. Luna-Perez is facing multiple counts of aggravated manslaughter, assault by auto, and vehicular homicide.

Attorneys revealed no new details about the case during Monday’s 10-minute hearing.

Luna-Perez was charged July 27 in connection with a crash the day prior that killed Maria Pleitez and her 11-year-old daughter. Police say Luna-Perez was behind the wheel with a blood alcohol content over three times the state’s legal limit when he crossed into oncoming traffic and hit Pleitez’s car head on.

In an earlier hearing, a different judge ordered him released pending trial on home confinement with an ankle monitor despite arguments from the county prosecutor to keep Luna-Perez detained. Luna-Perez has two prior arrests from earlier this year on drunken driving charges, and was the subject of a 2023 domestic violence complaint that was later withdrawn, according to court documents and court officials.

After his initial release from jail, immigration agents took him into custody and jailed him at an Elizabeth detention center. Ocean County prosecutors then added additional charges, retrieved him from Elizabeth, returned him to the county jail, and asked the court a second time to detain him pending trial.

The White House has highlighted Luna-Perez’s case to criticize New Jersey’s Immigrant Trust Directive, which restricts when local law enforcement can cooperate with federal immigration agents, and it has placed the blame for the fatal crash on Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat who supports the directive.

Murphy in response has said Luna-Perez “shouldn’t have been on the road, and frankly, he shouldn’t have been in the country.”

The state Attorney General’s Office has said the directive did not bar local police from cooperating with federal immigration officials to deport Luna-Perez. The directive allows for cooperation regarding undocumented immigrants facing some serious and violent charges, including assault.

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