MIAMI -- The attorney for a man who was arrested after he strapped a lamppost onto his van and tried to sell it for scrap at a recycling center last week said his client was just doing his "civic duty."

Elio Valera said he needed to earn a little cash and hoped to make a few hundred dollars by selling the lamppost that he said had been on the ground for three months.

"He needed to make a little cash and that's how he chose to do it," attorney Joseph Vredevelt said. "When you put a steak in front of a starving man, there's only so long before he's going to grab onto it."

Valera was arrested, facing charges of theft and dealing in stolen property.

"If the city doesn't use it to recycle, I'll use it," Valera told Local 10 at the time of his arrest. "It's just sitting there."

Valera's attorney said after a period of time, the lamppost becomes abandoned property.

"This isn't a case of grand theft or dealing in stolen property but a possible case of abandon property that he had every legal right to take advantage of," Vredevelt said.

If the property wasn't clearly labeled, Valera might not have broken any laws, his attorney said. That makes Vredevelt confident Valera won't be charged.

"He was doing a civic duty by collecting that scrap aluminum and trying to sell it," Vredevelt said.