Three people were charged Tuesday in connection with an appliance theft from a 78-year-old landlord.

According to police reports, a 78-year-old woman rented a house on the 800 block of Sunset Avenue in November to Shelby Jean Cole, but was in the process of evicting the renter for not paying rent when the elderly woman discovered the refrigerator and dryer from the house were missing. Police tracked the truck that hauled the appliances to a house on the 900 block of Daughtridge Street and recovered the appliances from a house on the 1700 block of Windsor Drive.

Samuel Battle, 55, was charged with felony larceny and possession of stolen property. Trudy Anne Nicholson, 47, was charged with felony buying stolen property and felony possession of stolen property. Both suspects were held under $2,000 unsecured bonds.

Police obtained a warrant for felony larceny against Cole, 54, but she has not been apprehended. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 977-1111 or crimestoppers@rockymountnc.gov.