NEWS

One arrested on abuse charges at Indiana farm

Associated Press

This undated photo provided by the Newton County Sheriff's Office in Kentland, Ind., shows Edgar Gardozo-Vasquez. An animal rights group that infiltrated a popular Indiana dairy farm and captured disturbing undercover video that has led to animal cruelty charges against three former farm workers including Gardozo-Vasquez released new footage Wednesday, June 12, 2019, showing workers punching and striking adult cows with poles while loading them into a farm milking carousel.

FAIR OAKS, Ind. - Authorities arrested one of three people charged with animal cruelty on June 12, following the release of video showing workers kicking and throwing young calves at a northwestern Indiana dairy farm that is an agritourism destination.

The Newton County Sheriff's Department said Wednesday, June 12, 36-year-old Edgar Gardozo-Vasquez of Brook was taken into custody and is being held at the Newton County Jail on a felony charge of torturing or mutilating a vertebrate animal and misdemeanor animal cruelty at Fair Oaks Farms.

The department says U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement has placed a hold on Gardozo-Vasquez. It says there's outstanding warrants for two other former Fair Oaks workers

It's not clear whether Gardozo-Vasquez has an attorney who might comment on his behalf.

The animal rights group Animal Recovery Mission released video last week showing calves being thrown and kicked in the head by farm employees and the carcasses of dead calves piled together.