Woman left dogs tied to trees in woods and abandoned puppy, cops say

A Galloway woman was charged by police in three towns after Galloway police found several dogs tied to a tree in the woods.

Galloway police said they received a call on Sept. 16 about five adult German shepherd/Belgian Malinois dogs tethered to a tree and left inside a kennel with no food and water.

The dogs belonged to Jodi Wozniak, police said.

The dogs, who the property owner estimated had been left for 15 hours, were taken to the Atlantic County Animal Shelter.

Wozniak refused to surrender the dogs, according to Acting Atlantic County Prosecutor Cary Shill.

Another set of dogs

Linwood police told investigators in Galloway that Wozniak brought five puppies to Linwood Animal Hospital in Linwood on Sept. 21. The dogs appeared to have Parvo virus, a highly contagious illness that can be deadly to dogs, according to the American Kennel Club.

Three of the puppies were euthanized and one was returned to Wozniak, who used a stolen credit card to pay her bill. One puppy was still being treated at Linwood.

Additional problems for Wozniak

Galloway police also charged Wozniak with trespassing on Sept. 21 after she returned to the property she was ordered to stay off on Sept. 13. She was arrested in violation of an eviction order.

Investigators also learned she brought a puppy into the Absecon Animal Hospital on Aug. 28 and abandoned the dog after being given an estimate for treatment of obstruction in its digestive tract.

Charged by 3 departments in one day

After being charged by Galloway police with trespassing and five counts of fourth-degree cruelty to animals, Wozniak was arrested by Linwood police for processing on charges of theft of services, fraudulent use of a credit card and two counts of cruelty to animals.

Linwood police then took Wozniak to Absecon, where she was charged with third-degree theft of services.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ