After over two years, the lawsuit by a dognapper’s accomplice against singer Lady Gaga is officially closed. Judge Holly J. Fujie ruled that Jennifer McBride, who returned the singer’s kidnapped dogs to the singer, is not entitled to the $500,000 reward.
The incident occurred in February 2021 when Ryan Fischer, the singer’s dog walker, was shot and nearly killed while taking the bulldogs out on a walk. They were taken from him while he was left “bleeding out on a sidewalk,” gasping for life.
Fischer was shot in the chest in an attempt to save the dogs but was unsuccessful. He had to be hospitalizedfor weeks and stayed at Gaga’s house for months afterward.
Although McBride was the one to return the dogs to Gaga, she was also a suspect. At first, she denied having any connection to the kidnappers and said she just happened to come across the dogs.
Upon further investigation, police found she had links to the men who kidnapped Gaga’s dogs and shot Fischer. McBride denied participating in the crime but was arrested in 2021 and charged with assisting the crime.
McBride then sued Gaga, claiming she was still entitled to the reward as the singer had promised to compensate anyone who found them with “no questions asked.”
She lost the first trial because her case was “legally insufficient.” Judge Fujie decided to allow her to refile the lawsuit after a 20-day leave. It was then that McBride accused Gaga of having the intent to “intent to defraud and induce members of the public.”
McBride was sentenced to two years probation after pleading no contest to receiving the stolen dogs.
