A 34-year-old Poughkeepsie man is facing felony charges after New York State Police say they pulled him over early Sunday on Mill Street and found two children, ages 10 and 13, riding in his car while he showed signs of intoxication. Mauro E. Gonzalez Cante was stopped a little after 1 a.m. while driving west on Mill Street in the city of Poughkeepsie, and troopers say a chemical breath test later showed his blood alcohol concentration at 0.11 percent.
According to Daily Voice, state police initiated the stop for an alleged vehicle and traffic law violation and noticed signs of intoxication once they approached the car. Gonzalez Cante was given standardized field sobriety tests and later submitted to the chemical breath test at the scene, per the outlet's report. He was taken into custody and brought to the State Police barracks in Wappinger for processing, while the two children in his vehicle were released to a sober third party.
Because two minors were in the vehicle, the case falls under Leandra's Law, New York's Child Passenger Protection Act. Gonzalez Cante was charged with two felony counts of aggravated driving while intoxicated with a child passenger, in addition to standard DWI and a charge of operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent or higher, both of which are unclassified misdemeanors on their own. He also faces additional traffic violations, the same report states.
How Leandra's Law Raises the Stakes
Leandra's Law was enacted by the New York State Legislature in November 2009 following the death of 11-year-old Leandra Rosado in a Manhattan highway crash, according to the New York Courts. The statute makes driving while intoxicated with a passenger age 15 or younger an automatic Class E felony on a first offense, regardless of a driver's prior record. A conviction can carry up to four years in state prison and fines between $1,000 and $5,000, the courts system notes.
The law also triggers consequences beyond the criminal courtroom. State regulations require arresting agencies to automatically report any driver charged under Leandra's Law to the New York Statewide Central Register of Child Abuse and Maltreatment if that driver is a parent, guardian, or otherwise legally responsible for the child, per the same court guidance. It remains unclear whether Gonzalez Cante is the parent or legal guardian of the 10- and 13-year-old passengers, and whether child protective services were contacted after the children were handed off to a sober third party.
Separately, New York's Prompt Suspension Law means any driver charged with DWI who records a breath test of 0.08 percent or higher faces automatic license suspension at their first court appearance, ahead of prosecution, according to the New York Division of Criminal Justice Services. If convicted, Gonzalez Cante would also be required under state law to install and maintain an ignition interlock device on any vehicle he owns or operates for at least 12 months once his license is restored.
A County Already Watching Its DWI Numbers
Poughkeepsie has been a focal point for alcohol-related driving incidents in Dutchess County. Regional crash data compiled for 2025 found the city recorded 24 alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, more than any other municipality in the county, according to a report cited by a Hudson Valley legal resource. Dutchess County's own February 2026 Transportation Safety Action Plan found that alcohol-related crashes accounted for 9 percent of all traffic fatalities and serious injuries countywide between 2014 and 2023, per Dutchess County Government data.
The county funds a dedicated STOP-DWI program, established under state law in 1981, that channels offender fines into overtime patrols, multi-agency sobriety checkpoints, and interlock enforcement across local police departments. Dutchess County was also designated a pilot county by the state in 2016 for specialized enforcement targeting convicted drunk drivers who try to bypass required ignition interlock devices, reflecting a longer-running local push against repeat impaired driving.
Gonzalez Cante is scheduled to appear in Poughkeepsie City Court on August 31 at 9 a.m. Open questions in the case include the precise nature of the initial traffic violation that led troopers to pull him over, and whether he has any legal relationship to the two children who were in his car that night.
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