TOMS RIVER, NJ – A 24-year-old Lakewood man has been sentenced to six years in state prison for causing a 2022 drunk driving crash that killed one woman and seriously injured another, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office announced.
Mordechai Berkowitz received the sentence Wednesday from Superior Court Judge Dina M. Vicari after pleading guilty to vehicular homicide and assault by auto.
Prosecutors said the deadly collision occurred on July 22, 2022, when Berkowitz crossed the center line on South Lake Drive in Lakewood and slammed head-on into another vehicle.
Crash killed passenger, injured driver
Investigators determined Berkowitz was driving a 2018 Chevrolet Impala eastbound when it collided with a 2017 Toyota RAV4 operated by 35-year-old Maria Flores-Moreno of Jackson. Her passenger, 44-year-old Juana Lopez-Hernandez, a citizen of Mexico, was pronounced dead at Monmouth Medical Center Southern Campus in Lakewood. Flores-Moreno sustained serious injuries and was hospitalized before being transferred to a rehabilitation facility.
Blood tests later showed Berkowitz’s blood alcohol concentration was .157 percent, nearly twice the legal limit. Data also revealed he had been driving more than 90 mph in a 35 mph zone.
Concurrent sentences imposed under NERA
Judge Vicari sentenced Berkowitz to six years in New Jersey State Prison for vehicular homicide and a concurrent four-year term for assault by auto. Under the state’s No Early Release Act, he must serve at least 85 percent of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
Berkowitz surrendered to authorities in July 2022 and was initially released under New Jersey’s bail reform guidelines pending trial.