Latrobe police looking to identify person accused of stealing Christmas tree from front porch
Police in Latrobe are asking for the public's help in locating a person who is accused of stealing a Christmas tree from a family's front porch.
Video shows a man walking onto the front porch of a home along Spring Street, unplugging the tree before walking off with it and a few extension cords. Police say the theft occurred around 2:30 a.m. Saturday.
Jack and Victoria Townsend and their family were the recipients of this holiday hoodwink. They say that while their family is a little disappointed, they are keeping their Christmas spirit and not letting this bring them down.
"Every time I start to feel a little uncomfortable," Victoria said, "I am just reminded of all the people who offered us new trees afterwards when we talked about it, or offered to cover us financially, and we are so fortunate that we have a community like that and we just redirected them instead to donate food to the food bank or donate money to the food bank instead."
No other neighbors were burglarized in this Christmas grab-and-go, but Latrobe police are investigating.
"At the end of the day, all we lost was our Christmas tree," Jack said. "I hope somebody is at least enjoying the tree, and it wasn't an act of vandalism where they just chucked it somewhere or something like that."
KDKA-TV spoke briefly with Latrobe Police Chief Richard Bosco, who said that Latrobe is still a safe community, and that the Christmas spirit is still very much alive and well, reiterating that Latrobe is less a grinch-plagued Whoville and much more a Mister Rogers neighborhood.
Anyone who may have information regarding this incident is asked to contact the Latrobe Police Department at 724-537-5526.