Local News

Federal authorities: Man accused of driving drunk, killing 2, was deported twice

Posted 9:12 p.m. yesterday
Updated 2:07 p.m. today

— A man accused of killing two people and seriously injuring two teenagers in a drunk driving crash is now facing a new charge – this one from federal authorities.

The U.S. Department of Justice said a federal grand jury indicted Felix Juarez-Antunez on Wednesday on a charge of illegally re-entering the country.

Federal authorities say Juarez-Antunez was in the U.S. illegally and was deported twice in the past eight years but got back into the country both times.

This is in addition to the state charges he faces in connection with the fatal Nov. 10 crash.

Smithfield police say Juarez-Antunez was drunk when he slammed into the back of a minivan stopped at a red light at 90 mph.

Marjory Regan, 65, was killed, and 15-year-old Ethan Handly died two days later.

Regan was taking her two grandchildren, 15-year-old Hailey Wagner and 14-year-old Stephen Wagner Jr., and their friends home after a night at the movies.

The Wagners were both seriously injured in the crash, but both are back home in Smithfield.

"I’m doing better, up walking. I’m very excited about that. Been making it up and down the stairs," said Hailey Wagner.

Stephen Wagner Sr., who lost his mother and almost lost his children, said the new charges against Juarez-Antunez only add to his pain.

"It just seems that much more preventable," he said. "This guy is showing up like it’s no big deal and causing problems, obviously, or he wouldn’t have gotten deported the first two times."

The federal indictment reveals that Juarez-Antunez was deported from Georgia in 2011 and then again from Louisiana in 2013.

"I’d like to see him pull federal time for the [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] charges. I’d like to see him pull state time that they’ve got him charged with," Stephen Wagner Sr. said. "There’s four different people he’s killed or hurt here."

Johnston County District Attorney Susan Doyle said she has never encountered a case quite like this and will be consulting with federal authorities on how the two jurisdictions will proceed.

The Wagners' home is decorated for Christmas, but among the stockings and lights, there is a reminder of the loss: he number 5, the number Handly wore on the high school baseball field.

It's a number Stephen Wagner Sr. said he won’t forget – just like the number of chances he believes Juarez-Antunez was given.

"For the amount of time and money and effort that he put in to sneaking in three separate times, he could have jumped through whatever hoops are required to get in legally one time," he said.

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