Several years ago, Lady Gaga offered a generous reward of $500,000 for anyone who helped lead her to her two stolen dogs.
The singer’s dogs were originally stolen from her dog walker at gunpoint in 2021. Gaga’s dog walker was also shot during the incident and hospitalized.
Later, a woman named Jennifer McBride returned the dogs to the LAPD Olympic Community station.
McBride never received any reward money, though, prompting her to sue Lady Gaga in an attempt to get paid.
However, a judge recently dismissed McBride’s attempted lawsuit before it could be determined at a trial.
That was due to McBride’s involvement in the original crime, which made it ridiculous for her to try to obtain any reward money.
Woman’s lawsuit to get Lady Gaga’s $500k reward is thrown out
On Monday, a Los Angeles judge ruled that singer Lady Gaga doesn’t owe Jennifer McBride a dime of the $500,000 reward for returning her stolen dogs.
McBride pleaded no contest to receiving stolen property several years ago after returning Gaga’s dogs to LAPD. Due to that, she can’t “benefit from her admitted wrongdoing,” which would mean her getting reward money from Gaga.
“The allegations in the complaint are directly related to wrongful conduct that plaintiff pleaded guilty to in the criminal proceeding,” the judge mentioned in their ruling, also saying McBride can’t “profit from her participation in a crime.”
Based on TMZ’s report, McBride has 20 days to resubmit her case, although it would be challenging for her to find any loopholes after the judge’s ruling.
Lady Gaga’s dog walker was shot in the chest during violent robbery
In February 2021, Gaga’s beloved French bulldogs were stolen from her in a violent robbery involving three men and two accomplices.
Gaga’s dog walker, Ryan Fischer, was walking the dogs at the time. A man held him at gunpoint and shot him in the chest before stealing two of Gaga’s dogs, Gustav and Koji. TMZ reported that three dogs were being walked at the time, but one ran away and was later recovered.
Fischer was hospitalized from the incident in which he lost part of one of his lungs. However, he survived the violent crime.
Gaga was involved in a movie role in Rome when the crime occurred. However, upon learning of the theft of her beloved pets, she offered a $500,000 reward to anyone who had her two dogs or might have unknowingly purchased them.
Individuals involved, including McBride, received charges and sentences
Two days after Gaga’s dogs were stolen, McBride returned them to the LAPD. According to USA Today, police didn’t initially suspect McBride was involved in the crime. However, she later received one count of receiving stolen property and accessory to attempted murder.
McBride ended up with a plea deal to drop the accessory to attempted murder and was sentenced to two years probation for receiving stolen property.
Police also identified and arrested the shooter, James Howard Jackson. According to Page Six, Jackson was sent to prison for 21 years in December 2022 after pleading no contest to a count of attempted murder.
Another man named Jaylin White pleaded no contest to second-degree robbery and was sentenced to four years in prison last year.
Page Six also revealed that the crime wasn’t necessarily targetting Lady Gaga, as the individuals involved had no idea it was her dogs they were stealing. Instead, they went after the French bulldogs due to their value.
Gaga now has all her dogs back safely and won’t have to hand over a dime of reward money!