Woman who returned Lady Gaga’s stolen dogs is suing singer for US$500,000 reward money
- In 2021, Gaga’s dog walker was shot while walking the singer’s French bulldogs. Thieves stole two of the three dogs
- Jennifer McBride returned two dogs to police. It was later discovered she was connected to one of the thieves. She is suing Gaga for ‘compensatory damages’
Jennifer McBride, the woman who returned Lady Gaga’s dogs after they were stolen in 2021, is suing the singer, saying she never received the promised US$500,000 reward. BuzzFeed News was the first to report on the lawsuit.
In February 2021, Gaga’s dog walker, Ryan Fischer, was shot while walking the singer’s French bulldogs. Perpetrators stole two of the three dogs, Koji and Gustav. Following the incident, Gaga offered a US$500,000 reward for the safe return of the Koji and Gustav.
Police arrested five people in April 2021 – including McBride, who “found” the dogs and turned them over to police two days after the robbery.
Though police initially believed McBride was not involved in the crime, it was later revealed she had a relationship with the father of one of the suspects involved, as Insider previously reported.
According to the Los Angeles Times newspaper, McBride was sentenced to two years’ probation in December 2022 after pleading no contest to one count of receiving stolen property.
That same month, James Howard Johnson, the man who shot Fischer, was sentenced to 21 years in prison, the Los Angeles Times reported.