We have heard the most bizarre news, and it concerns Ohio horse owners, and really, it could be related to all of the Tri-state’s equine owners.
We had a call from a friend who said a man he knows who owns a boarding facility who deals with some horses of fairly good value had a visit from someone who appeared to be an Ohio sheriff’s Deputy in Lawrence county, Ohio.
The man was accompanied by a short, heavy set middle aged woman with longer blonde hair. She was wearing a red Heart of Phoenix T-shirt, and the “deputy” said she was there to help him with an equine complaint concerning neglect.
They looked around and left. The barn owner’s help thought this was a real deputy.
The barn owner called a friend who knows HOP, as he wanted to check to see about our involvement because his horses are well cared for, and I was shocked to hear this story.
Not only WAS Heart of Phoenix Equine Rescue, INC not involved, we have no such board member or officer who meets that description.
This concerned the facility owner, and he went to the Sheriff’s department in Lawrence county, Ohio. They told him they had NO deputy by the name he was given, and that no complaint had been checked on by their department at all.
So these people are frauds, which I already knew on the Heart of Phoenix end. This wasn’t someone from HOP, but this was also not a DEPUTY! PLEASE BEWARE!
He has filed a report, and we’ve spoken at length tonight. We plan to go into the sheriff’s department together to further express how concerning this is Monday.
At no point has Heart of Phoenix been out with law enforcement in Ohio at all in many years. We have moved 2 horses in the last few weeks after law enforcement had the horses removed from an original property, and that is it.
Further, if a legal seizure is underway, you WOULD ALWAYS see one of our well known board-members and officers on site. You would never see only a single mystery volunteer. Ever. I imagine you all know what I look like, and it is rare I am not personally on scene (Tinia, that is).
The person pretending to be connected to Heart of Phoenix in Ohio is a fraud, but it seems that they are showing up with Law enforcement that is ALSO FAKE.
This sounds very dangerous, and we hope the county will take is VERY SERIOUSLY.
Please share this post because people do need to be aware. This is the most bizarre thing we have heard of, and we fear it is connected with some scheme to “steal” valueable horses for resale or worse. We really just can only speculate at this time what this is about, and as we learn more, we will let you all know.
