An Atlanta man is facing charges after being arrested for trying to sell a MARTA token.

Don Pirone was at the West End station when, he says, he saw a fellow passenger struggling with a token machine. Pirone decided to help the other man out, and that's where the trouble began.

"I gave him a token and, I guess out of his generosity, he gave me the money for it," Pirone says. "But I didn't ask him for money."

A MARTA police officer spotted the transaction and arrested Pirone. He was handcuffed and detained for two hours.

"It was one token," Pirone says, "and that put the $1.75 into a plastic bag that says 'evidence.'"

MARTA defends the arrest, saying it's part of a crackdown on people who sell tokens for profit. This, even though Pirone received only the face value for his token.

Pirone received a citation, and will have to appear in court to defend the charges against him.