Woman pleads guilty in Aurora crash that injured 6-year-old boy
A Cicero woman, who is accused of driving drunk when she crashed her SUV into an Aurora pond and left her 6-year-old son in the submerged vehicle, has entered a guilty plea.
Gladys X. Ruvira-Garcia, 32, of the 5600 block of West 22nd Place, entered a blind plea to aggravated DUI charges Thursday. The charges carry a sentencing range of three to six years in prison.
She pleaded not guilty and has been free on $150,000 bail since November 2017 when Judge Liam Brennan lowered her bail from $500,000.
Prosecutors say Ruvira-Garcia was returning home from a party in Aurora around 2 a.m. Oct. 15, 2017, along with her son, her 12- and 15-year-old daughters, and her 21-year-old sister, when she lost control of her 2007 Nissan Xterra near Diehl Road and I-88 and plunged into a pond.
Ruvira-Garcia, her daughters and her sister escaped the sinking vehicle, but the boy was left behind, officials said.
Divers from an Aurora Fire Department water rescue team found the SUV and the boy in about 15 feet of water roughly 80 feet from shore. Authorities say they think the boy was in the water for at least 30 minutes.
Ruvira-Garcia was arrested at the crash site. Prosecutors said she had a blood alcohol content of almost twice the legal threshold to drive.
The boy was taken to an Aurora hospital and then moved to a Chicago hospital where authorities say he spent nearly three months on a ventilator.
Her attorney, Raul Villalobos, said in November that the boy is now "doing well" and living with his father in Mexico.
Ruvira-Garcia, despite being free on bail, was placed on an immigration detainer by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE officials said Ruvira-Garcia overstayed a temporary visitor's visa after entering the United States in May 2015.
While on bail, she has been ordered to wear an alcohol-detecting anklet in addition to a GPS device. She also is prohibited from driving because she has no license or insurance.
Her next court date is scheduled for March 6, at which point a sentencing date will be scheduled.