Elderly drug mule Leo Sharp surrenders to prison

DETROIT (WLS) -- The world's oldest drug mule surrendered Tuesday to The Federal Medical Center at the Bureau of Prisons facility in Rochester Minnesota.

Leo Sharp, 90, of northwest Indiana, had promised never to spend a night in "a toilet with bars" in an ABC7 I-Team report. His Chicago attorney confirms Sharp turned himself in.

Sharp's case has attracted attention around the world because he admitted working as a courier for Mexico's most ruthless drug operation, the Sinaloa Cartel.

Already in his 80s, Sharp got into the illegal drug business late in life. Becoming a drug mule for the Sinaloa Cartel was a second career for Sharp, who was known around the world as a champion producer of day lilies.

The ABC7 I-Team first met Sharp after he was busted in 2011 with a delivery of cocaine in his pickup truck. He had picked up the drugs straight from Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel and was headed to Detroit to drop them off. Michigan State Police nabbed him for an improper lane change.

The elderly drug mule, as cartel couriers are known, pleaded guilty.