Officials said an illegal alien called a local sheriff's department and said he wanted to return home to Mexico.

According to the Ohio County Sheriff's Department, 21-year-old Fernando Lopez Diaz was hitchhiking across the states, trying to get to Florida. But police said his cross-country trek was cut short when he ran out of money.

"When he got here, he ran out of money and the truck driver kind of left him there," said Deputy Alex Espejo.

The truck driver dropped Diaz off at the lower Dallas Pike truck stop. Diaz had no ride and no money, so he went inside and called police to turn himself in.

Once deputies got the call, they headed out to pick Diaz up. They said he was speaking little to no English, and one of the deputies had to translate.

"First we had to verify that he was here illegally, through his statements telling us that he was," said Espejo.

The sheriff said this case was unique because Diaz was the only illegal alien out of more than 80 recently busted, who actually wanted to go home to Mexico.

"This guy said he wanted to go back to Mexico. He'd been picking watermelons in Indiana is what he told me, and he wanted to return home," said Espejo.

Police contacted ICE, who confirmed that Diaz was in the U.S. illegally. But when they brought out handcuffs, police said Diaz tried changing his story.

"Suddenly he was legal is what he tried to explain, and he wanted to be let go. Unfortunately, that didn't happen," said Espejo.

Diaz was taken to the Northern Regional Jail, where he's waiting to be picked up by ICE agents sometime Friday.

Jackie Cain, NEWS9