Mother and daughter cited for stealing flowers from graves

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) -- Two women have been cited for stealing flowers off gravesites at a St. Joseph cemetery, including some arrangements honoring war veterans on Memorial Day.

Prosecutors said Monday that Jo Ann Milbourn and her daughter Rebekah Rutherford were cited after a man saw them May 27 with 30 containers of flowers in the back of their vehicle. The man -- Larry Whitmore -- placed one of the pilfered pots for his father, a World War II veteran.

Whitmore said he and his wife were retrieving their container when they caught the women red-handed. He said, "I told them 'what the hell are you doing? You're stealing from the dead."'

Both women were issued city summonses after Buchanan County prosecutors declined to charge the two. Police arrested Milbourn at the cemetery and Rutherford turned herself in later in the week.

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Information from: The St. Joseph News-Press: http://www.stjoenews.net