In a recent incident that has sparked outrage, an Ohio sheriff criticized other law enforcement agencies for previously releasing an undocumented immigrant with a lengthy criminal record. The individual in question is now facing charges after allegedly causing a serious car accident while intoxicated, which left an Ohio nurse severely injured.
Johen Perez-Ventura, a 27-year-old undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, is currently facing charges that include aggravated vehicular assault, driving without a license, and obstructing justice, as stated by Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones.
The victim, Courtney Steinmetz, a devoted nurse and volunteer cheerleading coach, was traveling on Route 747 in Liberty Township, Ohio, on November 20 when Perez-Ventura allegedly collided head-on with her vehicle.
Courtney Steinmetz sustained multiple broken bones and significant spinal injuries due to the crash, which authorities report was caused by a drunk driver.
According to Sheriff Jones, Perez-Ventura was initially apprehended crossing the Texas border in 2019 and subsequently deported back to Guatemala. However, he managed to return to the United States and was charged with assault in Cincinnati earlier this year.
He returned to the U.S. at some point, and in 2023, was charged with assault in Cincinnati.
That same year, he was arrested and charged with drunk driving in Westchester, Jones said. Perez-Ventura was released after both arrests.
However, Perez-Ventura’s criminal history didn’t end there. In 2024, he was arrested twice for drunk driving, and released again.
Johen Perez-Ventura faces several charges after allegedly driving drunk and causing a crash that injured an Ohio woman. (Butler County Sheriff’s Office)
“This low-life piece of s— named Johen, who has been arrested [four times] for DUIs … he had alcohol in the car, had to be cut out of the car, [went] to the hospital,” Jones said in a video post to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page. “You know who pays for that. We do. … It’s not his first time. … He’s used to this. He was just going to be in the wind. … Not this time. We waited and then [Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)] made the apprehension.”
Jones said Perez-Ventura did not have a driver’s license, speculating he may have shown fake IDs to officers at other agencies, and they let him go anyway.
“That’s appalling in itself,” the sheriff said. “They probably didn’t want to send him to my jail because he would be deported. He [had] already been incarcerated at that point for DUI, assault, and he’d come across the border twice.”
Perez-Ventura, using an interpreter, claimed he was not the driver because he was on probation for one of his prior offenses.
After the crash, Jones visited Steinmetz in the hospital and said he could tell she was in “serious pain,” having suffered a spine injury, broken wrist and broken ankle.
“She’s 27, living her dream, working at the hospital as an RN, saving people’s lives. Now today, she’s lying in the hospital,” he said. “She’s not even out of the bed yet. She’s going to be out of work for quite some time. She’ll probably have issues the rest of her life with her spine.”
Courtney Steinmetz is now in recovery after she survived a head-on crash by an alleged drunken driver. Deputies say they found an open container of alcohol in the suspect’s car. (Emma-le Rybolt/Facebook)
A GoFundMe was set up for Steinmetz, to help with medical bills, lost wages and her insurance deductible — since Perez-Ventura did not have insurance.
A family member wrote on the crowdfunding site that despite her injuries, Steinmetz still “hopes the opposing driver is doing OK despite the pain this has caused.”
“He doesn’t care. You look at his mug shot, he has a smirk on his face,” Jones said. “I promise you, he won’t be deported again … He’s going to get a little taste of American prison. … He’ll get a cell until he goes to prison, then he can get deported when he’s a lot older. … This low-life is lying in my jail, getting three meals a day, whining and crying. [He] probably doesn’t like the conditions, which they’re a whole lot better than he deserves.”
Jones added he will pursue additional charges against Perez-Ventura related to the crash, and investigate the businesses who allegedly sold him the alcohol, people he was drinking with, and people who sold or loaned him cars.
“I have no sympathy,” Jones said. “If he had been deported and stayed deported the first time, we wouldn’t be going through this.”
Nearly half a dozen illegal immigrants, with charges ranging from sex crimes and assault to DUI and drugs offenses, have recently been arrested in Butler County, according to the sheriff.
