OBS official arrested over dispute with PETA activist

A horse and its rider lay motionless on the ground after an accident at Ocala Breeders’ Sales at an April 10 show [PETA].

The director of Ocala Breeders’ Sales was arrested on April 10 for robbery after a dispute with an animal rights activist at a tack show.

Director of Sales Tom Wojciechowski was arrested by the Ocala Police Department on a charge of robbery by sudden snatching after an altercation that began when Phillip Schein, an investigator for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), was recording a horse that had been injured during a tack show at the track at OBS, according to the arrest affidavit.

OBS shows for two-year-olds in training sales such as this one make up 70% of the sales in this category nationwide and 50% of the sales internationally. OBS has made $1 billion in sales over the past decade, averaging at more than $110 million per year, according to Horse Farms Forever.

In a video posted by PETA, the horse “Frosted” and its jockey can be seen crashing into the barriers during the April 10 under tack race and the horse is unable to move. Schein told authorities he walked around from the grandstands to an area that was open to the public to videotape staff and medical personnel tending to the horse.

In the video, the staffers inject the horse with two large syringes filled with pink liquid, to which PETA referred to as euthanasia. When euthanizing a horse, the animal is injected first with a sedative and then injected with the barbiturate for euthanasia for a humane and quick death, according to the Irongate equine clinic. The drug is often dyed a bright color, such as pink, to clearly differentiate it from other drugs to present a veterinarian mistake.

When Schein was videotaping the horse being given the injections, Wojciechowski and OBS President Tom Ventura began “screaming at him to shut the camera off and told him to get off the property,” according to the affidavit.

There were no charges brought against Ventura, said OPD spokesperson Jeffrey Walczak.

Schein told authorities that Wojciechowski, whom he didn’t recognize at the time, grabbed him by the arm, took his backpack and pulled it off him. The items in the backpack were valued at about $380 total.

When asked about the incident, OBS said “They have no comment.”

OPD said in the area that Schein was recording, there were no signs prohibiting taking photos or video.

Wojciechowski was arrested and taken into custody on April 12 at 4:07 p.m. and released at 7:36 p.m. that same day. Circuit Judge Lisa Herndon has been assigned to the case. No court dates have yet been scheduled.