OREM – Police say an Orem man, who is apparently trying to get to his home country of Argentina, may be going about it the wrong way. They say he called 911, pleading to be deported.
The calls to 911 dispatchers came in at around 9:30 Saturday night. Orem Police Lieutenant Craig Martinez says the caller, Juan Huber, sounded intoxicated when he demanded to have police come to his house and arrest him because he was in the country illegally. However, Martinez says the dispatchers informed him they wouldn’t be doing that. “[They said] sleep it off, relax and call us back if you need anything else and there’s any other emergency.” Huber reportedly wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. Martinez adds, “It got to the point where he just kept calling back, demanding us to come to his house and arrest him.”
Martinez says Huber called so many times, they had no choice but to take him into custody. “Not to deport him, but, we’re going to arrest him for electronic communications harassment,” he says.
However, Martinez says it’s possible Huber’s efforts may not pay off. He says he can’t guarantee that the Utah County DA or immigration officials will put an ICE retainer on this case. “Our policy is that we arrest the criminals, we book them into jail, and where it goes from there, that’s not up to us,” he says.