News Release
WARSAW — PETA sent a letter to Kosciusko County Prosecuting Attorney J. Brad Voelz calling on him to recuse himself from the animal neglect case involving Linda Ozier, citing a conflict of interest involving Ozier and Voelz’s wife, Gina Voelz.
Kosciusko County residents notified PETA that Gina Voelz hosted a fundraiser for Isaiah 11 Ministry at her pottery store, Pottery Bayou, last summer.
“The Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office submitted evidence to Voelz around five weeks ago, following a PETA undercover investigation that prompted the removal of all the animals from the facility, but Voelz has yet to take action,” said PETA in a press release.
“PETA’s investigation revealed that Ozier repeatedly failed to seek veterinary care for sick and injured animals—including Pearl, an emaciated cat whom the investigator found cold to the touch, visibly shaking, and reeking of infection,” said PETA. “The investigator rushed her to an emergency veterinary clinic, but despite days of intensive care, she couldn’t be saved.”
“At Ozier’s facility, other cats were kept inside filthy crates in an ammonia-sodden trailer, dogs were locked inside feces-filled barn stalls, and dead animals were found rotting in coolers,” said PETA.
“Gina Voelz’s ties to Ozier, who denied sick and dying animals veterinary care, presents a clear conflict of interest for the prosecutor,” said PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA is calling on Prosecuting Attorney Voelz to step aside and direct another prosecutor with no connection to Ozier or Isaiah 11 Ministry to review the evidence and file appropriate charges.”
A copy of PETA’s Thursday, May 16, letter to Voelz reads as follows:
Dear Mr. Voelz:
I’m writing again regarding Linda Ozier’s neglect of animals at her self-proclaimed “rescue,” Isaiah 11 Ministry. Your constituents have shared with us alarming new concerns regarding your wife’s ties to Ozier. Given this apparent conflict of interest, we urge you to recuse yourself from the case immediately.
Kosciusko County locals tell us that last June, your wife’s business, Pottery Bayou, hosted a fundraiser for Isaiah 11. An announcement of the event read that “a portion of the proceeds” from sales of her cat-related items would be “donated to benefit the ministry!” Multiple statements by Isaiah 11—typically authored by the accused, Ozier—referred to Mrs. Voelz’s business, including one reading, “[I]t was … a good day. We were able to hand out brochures and talk to many people about the ministry. Thanks to Pottery Bayou for this opportunity.”
Your constituents had been raising concerns about the abysmal conditions at Isaiah 11 Ministry months before Mrs. Voelz partnered with the facility last summer, but the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office failed to render aid to a single animal until PETA investigated the facility this March.
Early last month—prompted by our evidence and with our and other humane officials’ help—the sheriff’s office finally removed the surviving animals from the facility. It also interviewed the eyewitness and, within a few days, submitted this case for your review.
By now, you must know that Ozier knowingly and intentionally failed to seek veterinary care for Pearl, a critically ill, emaciated cat Ozier intended to leave to die unassisted. Other cats the sheriff’s office and we removed from the property suffered from upper respiratory and ear infections, an injured eye, diarrhea, parasites, muscle wasting, emaciation, and chronic, painful wounds. PETA eyewitnesses also documented the rotting remains and skeletons of other animals.
Your silence on this matter for more than five weeks—coupled with your wife’s fundraising for the suspect—gives the community (and us) pause. Surely, you must recognize that this relationship represents an apparent conflict of interest and that recusing yourself from the case would be the ethical thing to do. For the sake of transparency, please have another prosecutor with no connection to Ozier or Isaiah 11 review the evidence and file appropriate charges.
— PETA Senior Evidence Analyst Sarah Deffinger
