James Ruiz, the 34-year-old Albuquerque man charged with killing two young women in an alcohol-related crash Friday night, admitted to drinking six or seven beers in the hours before the collision, court documents show.

However, Ruiz refused to take chemical tests, and Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center staff took a sample of his blood, according to a police report filed Monday in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court. Test results on the sample are pending.

Magistrate Sandra Miera ordered Ruiz held in lieu of a $2 million cash-only bond. Ruiz — son of Joe Ruiz, a former state official from Santa Fe now serving federal prison time for a government corruption conviction — is charged with two counts of vehicular homicide, which includes a drunken-driving component, and driving with a suspended or revoked license.

He allegedly drove a 2005 Ford F-250 pickup at a high rate of speed into the back of a sedan that was traveling southwest on Cerrillos Road near the Santa Fe Auto Park just before 9 p.m. Friday. Two sisters riding in the back seat of the sedan — Deshauna Peshlakai, 17, and Del Lynn Peshlakai, 19, both of Naschitti — died. Their parents, David and Darlene Peshlakai, suffered serious injuries.

Ruiz "made no attempt to brake prior to the collision," the police report says. He later admitted "that he drank 6-7 beers between (1 p.m.) and 30 minutes prior to the crash," the report said.

David Peshlakai remained in critical condition Monday in the Santa Fe hospital's intensive care unit, while Darlene Peshlakai was in serious condition, a hospital spokesman said.

A passenger in Ruiz's truck also was injured in the crash, though Santa Fe Police Chief Aric Wheeler on Monday again declined to name the person. He said that person may face charges and is considered a suspect, which he said is the reason he refused release the person's identity.

Ruiz suffered minor injuries, Wheeler said. Police were to search his pickup Monday, the chief said. There was no indication that anyone in the Peshlakai car had been drinking, Wheeler said.

Ruiz appeared in a video arraignment Monday dressed in a red jail jumpsuit and asked for a public defender.

A member of the Peshlakai family asked Miera during the arraignment to set the highest bond possible, calling the girls' deaths "a tragedy for the family and the whole community of the Navajo Nation."

Maryann Ruiz, James Ruiz's stepmother, also spoke at the arraignment and tearfully addressed the Peshlakai family members in the courtroom. She said that on behalf of the Ruiz family, she wanted to "extend my sincere apology for what has happened."

"We have been trying to work with James and we have not been successful," Maryann Ruiz said. "I am so, so sorry."

While it was unclear exactly what Maryann Ruiz meant, James Ruiz's brother said alcoholism was to blame for his brother's troubles.

"The person I have known as my brother has one of the biggest hearts I have ever known," J.J. Ruiz said in an e-mail to The New Mexican. "However, his being has been poisoned by the disease of (alcoholism). He is not well. The person he could have been without alcohol ... imagine. More heartbreaking is the loss of two young lives and the injury of so many others."

Outside the courtroom Monday, Maryann Ruiz said her husband, Joe Ruiz, still did not know about the allegations against his son, and that she would be talking to him later Monday. She declined further comment.

Joe Ruiz, a former state deputy insurance superintendent, is serving four years in federal prison after being convicted in the summer of 2008 of soliciting charitable donations from insurance companies in exchange for reducing regulatory fines. During his trial, Joe Ruiz's lawyer said his client solicited the donations at the behest of his boss, former state Insurance Superintendent Eric Serna. However, Serna was never charged with any crime. A federal appeals court upheld the convictions in December.

According to records from courts around the state, James Ruiz has been driving drunk since before he was legally able to drink alcohol. According to court records, he frequently drove poorly and irresponsibly, even when he wasn't charged with driving under the influence. Charges against him include repeated counts of careless driving, reckless driving, speeding and driving without a license or insurance during the last decade and a half, the records state.

In addition, he has been arrested for drunken driving five times since 1995, when he was 20 years old, according to court records and state DWI Czar Rachel O'Connor.

The first DWI occurred in December 1995 in Santa Fe, according to Municipal Court records. He pleaded no contest to that charge. He was arrested for the second time in January 2001 in Albuquerque, and later pleaded guilty to the charge, according to online Metro Court records.

In June 2003, James Ruiz was clocked driving 110 mph in a 75 mph zone on Interstate 25 near the New Mexico National Guard Armory, according to a police report. His breath alcohol content at the time was .22, more than twice the legal driving limit. He later pleaded guilty to the charge and was sentenced to three years of unsupervised probation, records state.

O'Connor said James Ruiz was arrested for DWI by Farmington police in 2005, though she didn't have specifics Monday about that arrest.

Finally, Santa Fe police officers arrested him on a charge of aggravated DWI at about 8 p.m. May 6, 2008, after finding him passed out behind the wheel of a car that was still running, according to a police report. The officer initially couldn't wake up James Ruiz, the report states.

James Ruiz later told paramedics he drank 10 beers earlier that day, according to the report. He was unable to walk on his own at the time. That case was set to go to trial this week, according to online court records.

Contact Jason Auslander at 986-3076 or :jauslander@sfnewmexican.com.