Wednesday, 30 April

Lady Gaga sued by woman involved in kidnapping her 2 dogs for not paying $500k reward

Entertainment
Singer Lady Gaga

In February 2021, Lady Gaga offered a $500,000 reward to anyone that safely returned her two dogs, Koji and Gustav, after they were stolen at gunpoint in an attack that left her dog walker Ray Fischer critically injured. Now, the woman who returned the pair of pooches is coming to collect in a new lawsuit. 

Jennifer McBride, who was one of five people arrested in connection to the dognapping, is seeking legal action against the "Bad Romance" singer for not paying her the $500,000 reward that was promised after she returned the dogs to the police department, according to Los Angeles County Superior Court documents obtained by PEOPLE.  

In the Friday filing, McBride's attorney alleged that Gaga committed a breach of contract, fraud by false promise, and fraud by misrepresentation by including the words "no questions asked" in her offer and then not paying McBride the reward, per the outlet.

The lawsuit also claims that Gaga's reward offer was made "with the intent to defraud and induce members of the public, such as Plaintiff, to rely upon it and to act upon said promise by locating and delivering Lady Gaga's bulldogs to Defendants," per the outlet.

Lady Gaga: Five charged over violent theft of pop star's dogs - including  woman who returned them | Ents & Arts News | Sky News

EW has reached out to representatives for Gaga, but did not immediately hear back. 

McBride was arrested in April 2021 after an LAPD news release stated that she and fellow accomplice Harold White were both "determined to be accessories after the initial crime," per PEOPLE. McBride was subsequently charged with one count of being an accessory after the fact and another for receiving stolen property, according to NBC Palm Springs. She pleaded no contest and was sentenced to two years probation in December.

James Howard Jackson, who shot Fischer, also pleaded no contest to one count of attempted murder and was sentenced to 21 years in prison the same month, while Harold White pleaded no contest to one count of ex-convict in possession of a gun. He is set to be sentenced sometime this year. 

In a statement obtained by EW in last December, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said, "The plea agreement holds Mr. Jackson accountable for perpetrating a coldhearted violent act and provides justice for our victim."

Source: ew.com