Woman accused of interrogating man while he was tortured

A 58-year-old woman who along with her son was charged in February with running a drug house across from St. Mary’s Church in Port Washington is now accused of interrogating a man she believed gave authorities information that led to her arrest while he was being tortured at her house last week. 

The victim told police that Sandra J. Koziol, who faces seven additional charges, six of them felonies, asked him “Who have you been talking to?” and “Did you talk to the police?” while two men he did not know beat him early on Tuesday, March 16, according to a criminal complaint filed in Ozaukee County Circuit Court. 

Koziol was asking about information that lead to the Feb. 2 raid by the Ozaukee County Anti-Drug Task Force of her house at 110 E. Van Buren St., where authorities found methamphetamine, a significant amount of marijuana and $7,700, according to the criminal complaint.

Koziol was free in lieu of $5,000 bail in that case at the time of the March 16 incident. She is now being held in jail on $50,000 bail.

Police learned of the March 16 incident after the man who was being tortured escaped Koziol’s house and ran across the street to an assisted living facility for help.

Officers who responded said the man was bleeding, bruised and “appeared to have been severely beaten up,” the complaint states.

The man said he was confronted at Koziol’s house by two unknown men who burned and beat him and threatened him with brass knuckles in an effort to extort information that they thought he had given authorities about drug dealing at the house. Koziol, he said, participated in the questioning, and although she initially seemed to be trying to stop the men, she kept asking questions as the beating continued, according to the complaint. 

When officers went to Koziol’s house, they found an ice pick near the entrance and a large amount of blood. Officers said no one answered the door when they knocked so, concerned there may be victims inside, they entered the house and found Koziol, who berated one of the officers and told him he had no right to be in her house, the complaint states.

After obtaining a warrant, authorities searched the house and found a bloody chair, blood spatter and a bloody handprint on the wall near the front door. A boot that matched the one the victim was wearing when he escaped was also near the front door and throughout the house there was drug paraphernalia, according to the complaint.

Also found in the house were what authorities suspect are two “rocks” of heroin, methamphetamine, used syringes and drug pipes. In Koziol’s office, officers found a shopping bag that contained $4,130 in cash and a drug scale. In her bedroom, they found a plastic bag of pills that appeared to be packaged for sale and drug paraphernalia, the complaint states.

Koziol is charged with two counts of bail jumping, possession of methamphetamine, possession of narcotic drugs, intimidation of a witness and false imprisonment, all felonies, as well as one misdemeanor count of battery.

Those charges are in addition to the ones filed against Koziol in February of maintaining a drug trafficking place and possession of methamphetamine. 

Koziol’s son Blaine G. Koziol, 23, who lived at her house at the time, faces the same two charges. 

The case stems from an Anti-Drug Task Force investigation of the Koziols that began after authorities received reports they were selling drugs from their house. Authorities who took and inspected bags of garbage left at the curb in front of the house found they contained evidence of drug activity involving heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine, the complaint states.

At 6 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 2, authorities set off a flash-bang, or stun, grenade outside the house, then entered the home to find Blaine Koziol and his girlfriend in the basement, where he said they lived. 

Sandra Koziol was not home, and Austyn R. Wolford, 24, who also lived at the house, came home when authorities were there. Wolford is charged as a repeat offender with misdemeanor counts of possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

In Sandra Koziol’s upstairs bedroom, authorities found a glass pipe and bong, methamphetamine residue on a mirror and bags commonly used to package drugs, according to the complaint.

In Wolford’s bedroom, they found bongs, marijuana and BHO, or butane hash oil, wax, a concentrated form of cannabis extract that contains the active ingredient in marijuana, the complaint states.

In the basement, where Blaine Koziol lived, authorities found pipes, bongs, BHO wax, a digital scale with marijuana residue on it and a money counter, according to the complaint.

A safe found in a basement closet contained $7,706 in cash, 43.2 grams of marijuana and BHO wax.

An inspection of Blaine Koziol’s cell phone revealed multiple messages about drug deals, the complaint states.

Sandra Koziol was also charged in February with bail jumping because at the time her house was raided she was free on bail on misdemeanor charges filed in July of possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and second-offense operating while intoxicated, according to court records.