Moriches man pleads guilty to reckless crash that killed teenage passenger

Luis Gonzalo Barrionuevo Fuertes of Moriches pleaded guilty Feb. 11, 2026 to a slate of felonies and misdemeanors after a Father’s Day crash in East Hampton that killed a back-seat passenger, Suffolk County prosecutors said. The victim, 19-year-old Scarleth Samaniego-Urgiles of East Hampton, was one of seven teenagers in the 2009 Toyota Camry when the vehicle struck a tree on Old Stone Highway on June 15, 2025.

According to Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney, Barrionuevo Fuertes drove the group to a local beach where the teenagers, whose ages ranged from 15 to 19, consumed alcohol before returning to the vehicle. The DA’s office said six people, including a 15-year-old, were packed into the back seat. The press release describes at least one other passenger as seriously injured; local coverage also used a headline indicating multiple injured victims, a discrepancy noted by prosecutors’ documents.

Barrionuevo Fuertes entered his guilty plea before Acting Supreme Court Justice Steven A. Pilewski. The charges he admitted to include a mix of violent felonies, other felonies, and misdemeanors, listed by the District Attorney’s Office as: One count of Aggravated Vehicular Homicide, a Class B felony; One count of Manslaughter in the Second Degree, a Class C felony; One count of Aggravated Vehicular Assault, a Class C felony; One count of Vehicular Manslaughter in the Second Degree, a Class D felony; Two counts of Assault in the Second Degree, Class D violent felonies; One count of Vehicular Assault in the First Degree, a Class D felony; Two counts of Vehicular Assault in the Second Degree, Class E felonies; One Aggravated Driving While Intoxicated with a Child, a Class E felony; Two counts of Driving While Intoxicated, Unclassified misdemeanors.

The human toll reached beyond official filings. Local reporting compiled from family recollections said Scarleth Urgiles left home that Sunday night for a beach birthday party and never returned. Patch quoted Scarleth’s mother saying, “My soul is broken.”

For Suffolk County residents, the case underscores several community concerns: the hazards of driving while intoxicated, the legal exposure when minors are present, and the risks of overcrowded vehicles on narrow, rural roads like Old Stone Highway. The DA’s charges reflect the presence of a child in the vehicle and multiple alleged victims, while the court record preserves defendant admissions about drinking and driving during his allocution.

No sentencing information or toxicology numbers were provided in the DA’s statement. Next steps for readers and local officials include confirming a sentencing date and monitoring court filings for the allocution transcript and any additional victim information. The collision is likely to reverberate in East Hampton and across Suffolk as families, schools, and public safety officials weigh how to prevent underage drinking and unsafe driving in beach and summer gatherings.