SAN DIEGO (AP) — A gay man from San Diego who was imprisoned in a Tijuana jail has been cleared of criminal charges and deported to the United States.

Sam Warren was deported on June 19 after immigration authorities ruled he had lived in Mexico illegally.

Warren, a writer who operated a bed-and-breakfast in Tijuana, Mexico, was cleared by a federal appellate court of charges that he had contributed to the corruption of a minor, said his lawyer, Francisco Bazan. He had spent more than three years in Mexican prisons.

“I’ve lost everything I owned. I have to start all over again,” Warren said as he headed for San Diego.

Warren, who has written a guide to the gay community of Baja California, said he was the victim of homophobia and corrupt police. Police raided his bed-and-breakfast in April 2000 and arrested Warren and seven others.

An American man who was detained, Richard Wilson, was convicted of corrupting a minor and remains in the La Mesa State Penitentiary in Tijuana. Wilson and Warren were sentenced to six-year terms; Wilson did not appeal his conviction to the federal court, Bazan said.