Seven years ago, a drunk driver named Marilyn Aguilera drove into a crowded baseball field in West Miami-Dade and bumped into a popular high school principal. The crash cost him his legs. Aguilera pleaded guilty and went to prison for five years.
Aguilera finally walked free in February – but was recently sent back to prison, charged with tampering with an ankle monitor designed to detect if she had been drinking.
As part of her probation, the 57-year-old lives in a shelter and wears a SCRAM bracelet, which detects the presence of alcohol in her perspiration. On two occasions in April and May, probation officers noted something had been placed between her skin and the bracelet, preventing the monitor from testing her sweat for alcohol overnight.
“My hypothesis is that she’s drinking in this group home,” Miami-Dade prosecutor Laura Adams said in a court hearing Thursday, adding, “Some people are beyond help. I don’t know if that’s the case with Ms. Aguilera.’
Aguilera, who is represented by the prosecution, has not explained her reasons for what happened those nights.
But the group home operator testified on Thursday that Aguilera has been a “model resident.”
“We didn’t see her under the influence,” she said.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mavel Ruiz has scheduled a new hearing on Tuesday and said she was inclined to put her on trial again, but only after she was reassured that Aguilera will remain clean.
“She needs to understand that in this case there will be zero tolerance for a violation,” Ruiz said.
In April 2016, Aguilera drove her SUV onto the baseball field, horrifying the spectators, and rammed into high school principal Javier Perez while coaching his son’s championship game. Perez was trapped under the SUV. He almost lost his life.
Aguilera smelled of alcohol and failed roadside sobriety tests. On the floor was a large open can of Budweiser beer. Blood tests later showed she was drunk almost three times the legal limit.
Days after the crash, students held a candlelight vigil to support Perez, while events helped raise money for his medical bills. In the months that followed, he became an inspirational figure after undergoing more than 100 blood transfusions and 20 surgeries, vowing one day to walk back to South Dade High on prosthetic limbs.
