A British native who said he swam across the Detroit river from Canada to the US to try to deliver handmade books before Christmas has been released after two months in American custody.
Christopher Sagajllo, 56, was arrested in December after crossing over in a wetsuit and landing at a steel firm’s property on Zug Island, south of Detroit.
US district judge Linda Parker sentenced him to time served, clearing his return to St Catherines, Ontario, where he is a permanent Canadian resident.
“He is not a dangerous individual,” defence lawyer Benton Martin said.
Mr Sagajllo, 56, declined to speak in court. But he explained in a letter why he had chosen a risky way to get into the US. He said he was desperate after being turned away days earlier at the border in Niagara Falls, New York.
US authorities said he was ineligible as he had been deported to the UK in 2010 after overstaying a visit by seven years.
Mr Sagajllo said he had followed his religious faith and made books in silk bags.
He wrote: “Four of the recipients were in the United States, and I believed [the books] needed to be delivered before Christmas. I believed I needed to swim across. I felt that if I did not do what was required of me, something terrible would happen to me.”
