Lady Gaga sued by woman convicted in dognapping case

LOS ANGELES — A woman convicted of charges connected with the dognapping of two of Lady Gaga’s French bulldogs is suing the singer, claiming that she was never paid a promised $500,000 reward.

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In the lawsuit, Jennifer McBride said Gaga offered the reward for the return of her dogs with “no questions asked” after they were stolen in a violent robbery in February 2021, KABC-TV reported. McBride is suing the pop star for breach of contract, fraud by false promise and fraud by misrepresentation, according to the news station.

Attorney K.T. Tran, who is representing McBride, told The Washington Post that the case “is quite simple.”

“Lady Gaga made a reward offer. … She desperately wanted her dogs returned and my client took action to fulfill Lady Gaga’s wish,” Tran told the Post. “My client had absolutely no involvement in the theft of the dogs. She loves dogs and was glad to participate in their safe return. She is legally entitled to and deserves the reward.”

In her suit, McBride is seeking the $500,000 reward and at least $1.5 million in damages, KABC reported.

Ryan Fischer was walking Gaga’s French bulldogs — Koji, Gustav and Asia —in Los Angeles on Feb. 24, 2021, when authorities said a car pulled up and two men jumped out, demanding the dogs at gunpoint. A struggle ensued and one of the men shot and injured Fischer before they grabbed two of the dogs, hopped back into the car and left.

Several people were charged following the attack, including McBride. Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Michele Hanisee told The Washington Post that the 52-year-old, who was a longtime friend of the father of one of the robbers, had been recruited “to be the innocent lady who just happened to find the dogs.”

McBride turned over the two stolen dogs, Koji and Gustav, two days after they were taken, claiming that she had found them tied to a pole, the Los Angeles Times reported. Video from the area where the dogs were left tied showed that she had earlier been there, “pacing back and forth waiting for the dogs to be dropped off,” Hanisee told the newspaper.

In December, McBride was sentenced to two years of probation after she pleaded no contest to one count of receiving stolen property, according to the Times.

Four others pleaded no contest to charges related with the February 2021 robbery. Harold White, McBride’s friend, pleaded no contest to a count of ex-convict in possession of a gun, the Associated Press reported. White’s son, Jaylin White, and Lafayette Whaley last year pleaded no contest to robbery charges, while James Howard Jackson pleaded no contest to one count of attempted murder in connection with the shooting, according to the AP.

In a statement published on social media and read in court during Jackson’s sentencing, Fischer said that he continues to recover from the injuries he sustained in February 2021.

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