BLOUNT COUNTY, Ala. (WIAT) – The man responsible for dumping hundreds of packages from a FedEx truck into an Alabama ravine will turn himself over to law enforcement for his “poor choices,” Blount County Sheriff Mark Moon announced Friday.

During a press conference Friday afternoon, Moon announced that Deandre Charleston, 22, of Adamsville, Alabama, admitted to dumping packages five different times between Nov. 17 and Nov. 24 off River Oak Trail in Hayden while working as a contract employee for FedEx. The packages were discovered by police the day before Thanksgiving.

“It appeared that he was very sorrowful for what he had done and just admitted that he was having some hard times in his life and made poor choices,” Moon said.

Arrest warrants have been signed against Charleston, charging him with five counts of cargo theft, a Class D felony.

“He is working today and he is delivering packages for another company, so hopefully we will have him in custody by the end of the day,” Moon said.

According to Moon, 153 of the packages gathered were able to be scanned and 247 were not able to be identified, affecting approximately 450 customers. In total, $24,700 worth of packages were unaccounted for.

Moon said a detective recently made contact with Charleston in Adamsville. Charleston explained that at the time of the dumps, he had recently lost a family member and that other issues in his life contributed to making “poor choices.”

“He did tell our investigator he didn’t take anything; he just unloaded them because he didn’t want to deliver them,” Moon said.

During the press conference, Moon stressed how polite and forthcoming Charleston was with what he did and that he hoped this situation was a life lesson he could learn from.

“I know there’s a lot of people out there that want to just throw this guy away, throw away the key and never give him any hope of a life ever. That’s not my intentions and that’s not my hope,” Moon said. “I hope this is a life lesson that can change him, give him a better work ethic, and a better understanding of other people’s needs, where he can move on from here and become a thriving citizen in our state.”