Three arrested for Christmas tree theft

ANDOVER, N.Y. (AP) - Some would-be Grinches are accused of stealing Christmas trees from a western New York business.

State police say Allegany County 911 dispatchers received a call around 2:30 a.m. Sunday reporting the theft of a Christmas tree from a seller in the rural town of Andover, in the Southern Tier.

Troopers say two women from nearby Wellsville had put the tree in a vehicle and were trying to get away from the business owner, who was chasing them in his own vehicle. Authorities say at one point, the women threw the tree from their moving vehicle at the business owner's vehicle. The town's police chief pulled the women over and troopers took them into custody.

Police say they later learned the women and a Wellsville man were suspected of an earlier Christmas tree theft from the same business.

Angiline Palmiter, 28; Victoria Greene, 36; and Derek Hodgkins, 27; are all charged with petty larceny. The women are also charged with reckless endangerment.