Douglas Allen Hatley, 71, of Lakeland, Florida, was arrested last November after the Florida Highway Patrol said he found a metal light pole by the side of the road in Tampa and tried to sell it to Eagle Metals Recycling.

The Tampa Bay Times reported the recycling center turned him away because he didn’t have documentation for the pole, and officers responding to reports of a 1997 Camry with a pole twice its length strapped to the top pulled him over soon afterward. Hatley told troopers a highway maintenance worker “gave it to me.”