Chef accused of poisoning giant maple tree

NEW YORK (AP) - A New York restaurateur was arrested on charges he poisoned his neighbor's giant maple tree that's now fighting for its life.

Prosecutors say Adam Harvey, a onetime TV "Top Chef" contestant, is due in court Friday after allegedly drilling holes into the trunk of the 60-year-old Brooklyn tree and filling them with herbicide. The Daily News reports that the 33-year-old chef claimed the silver maple blocked sunlight from the solar panels on his home in the Windsor Terrace neighborhood.

It says neighbors photographed him in action on April 30. Half the leaves have wilted on the tree that belongs to a retired schoolteacher.

Harvey is charged with criminal mischief and criminal trespass.

He owns the Bar Salumi restaurant in Brooklyn's Gowanus neighborhood. He has declined to comment.