A U.S. Citizen lied to Utah law enforcement officials and said he was an undocumented immigrant so he could be deported to Mexico and avoid jail time for drug-related charges, according to an Associated Press report.

The man, Jaime Alvarado, 27, lied because he knew that officials will sometimes deport an individual to avoid contributing to an overcrowded prison system, the article reports.

Alvarado’s plan worked until he returned to the U.S. and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers realized he was legally present in the U.S., the AP reported. He’s been on the run and authorities are trying to find him. Salt Lake Country prosecutors added additional charges against Alvarado on Wednesday for originally lying to authorities regarding his identity.

Immigration officials say this does happen time-to-time, but Rishi Oza, an immigration attorney with the Cleveland-based firm of Robert Brown LLC, told the Associated Press, he hasn’t seen it before.

“I have never seen something like this happen. More often than not, the situation works the other way – a person claims to be legal to avoid detection,” Oza said. “I have never seen an American citizen try to get deported.”

Read the full story at www.AP.org.

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