Official arrested after scuffle with PETA investigator at Ocala horse sale event
An Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. official has been arrested on a charge of robbery by sudden snatching after a Wednesday incident when he was accused of using force to take a backpack from a PETA investigator who was video recording a horse being euthanized.
Tod Thomas Wojciechowski was arrested Friday at OBS and transported to the Marion County Jail by an Ocala Police Department officer. Wojciechowski, 57, the director of sales at OBS, was booked into the jail at 4:07 p.m. and released on his own recognizance at 7:36 p.m., jail records show.
On Saturday, a Star Banner reporter went to OBS to see if Wojciechowski had a comment. A woman told the reporter Wojciechowski was on property and working. A message was left with the woman. Wojciechowski did not return the message as of 2 p.m.
Ocala Police Detective Ryan Park tried to interview Wojciechowski on Thursday about the incident. Wojciechowski told the detective he would speak with him if his lawyer could be present. The man's lawyer is Doc Blanchard, of Blanchard, Merriam, Adel & Green. The detective was told they wouldn't be able to meet until the following week.
Blanchard could not be reached for comment by the Star Banner.
When asked for a comment on Saturday, PETA Vice President Kathy Guillermo said: "OBS executives are bullies who are trying to cover the broken bones and mangled bodies of very young horses. It won't work. We're grateful to the OPD and we look forward to seeing justice done."
The police report
According to Park's report, the investigator for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) said he was in the grandstand at OBS recording horses running on the track on April 10. At one point, a horse fell in what was described as a "freak accident." The man said medical personnel tended to the injured horse and curtains were used to prevent spectators from looking.
OBS was conducting its Two-Year-Olds in Training under-tack show.
The investigator told police he left the grandstand and went to an area that was open to the public and continued video recording the horse's treatment. He said two men showed up on a cart — one he knew, the other he didn't recognize — and they yelled at him to turn the camera off and leave.
The man said he stopped recording, put the camera in his pocket, and was walking off property. He said the men told him to give them his camera and he wasn't allowed to leave.
The investigator told police that one of the men — the one he didn't know — grabbed at his backpack. He said the man forcibly took his backpack, even as the investigator resisted.
The victim said the items in the backpack are valued at $380. The investigator said the other man, also an OBS official, didn't touch him. He said he left the property without his backpack and then reported the incident.
The Star Banner is not identifying the other OBS officials at this time because he has not been arrested.
Photo lineup
Park reviewed videos of the scene but was not able to identify the person who took the investigator's backpack, the report states.
An officer went to OBS and was able to find Wojciechowski and the other man who had encountered the PETA investigator. According to the police report, the men told Park the area was private property and they tried to stop the investigator from recording at that spot.
They said they wanted him to be trespassed and forced to leave. The man known to the investigator said OBS was holding onto the investigator's backpack so he could be trespassed if he should return to collect it.
The backpack has been returned to the investigator. He told police officials nothing was missing.
During the discussion with the detective, Wojciechowski did not say he touched the investigator or took the man's backpack, according to the report.
The officer said in his report that the area where the PETA investigator was video recording was open to the public and there were no signs that said pictures or videos were prohibited. There were no surveillance cameras covering the area of the incident.
A photo lineup was arranged. Another detective showed the photos to the PETA investigator, who identified Wojciechowski as the man who forcibly took his backpack. The investigator acknowledged that he recognized Wojciechowski from previous pictures.
Wojciechowski is accused of violating Florida statute 812.13-2c, which defines robbery as "the taking of money or other property which may be the subject of larceny from the person or custody of another, with intent to either permanently or temporarily deprive the person or the owner of the money or other property, when in the course of the taking there is the use of force, violence, assault, or putting in fear."
Since no weapon was used, this charge would be considered a second-degree felony.
Contact Austin L. Miller at austin.miller@starbanner.com
This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Ocala Florida horse official arrested after scuffle with PETA investigator
