A man charged in the 2021 shooting of Lady Gaga’s dog walker and theft of her French bulldogs pleaded no contest to second-degree robbery Wednesday and was sentenced to four years in prison.
Jaylin White, 20, in a plea deal that dismissed attempted murder and conspiracy charges, acknowledged in court that an accomplice was armed when they accosted dog walker Ryan Fischer in Los Angeles and left him seriously wounded as they fled with the dogs.
White is the first of three men charged in the violent Feb. 24, 2021, dognapping to be sentenced. Two other people face charges in an attempted scam to collect a reward for returning the stolen dogs.
Surveillance video showed Fischer walking Gaga’s three dogs when he was confronted by at least two men who demanded he “give it up.” Fischer struggled and was shot in the chest. The attackers drove off with Gaga’s dogs Koji and Gustav. The third pet was found near where Fischer was shot.
Fischer said in court that he lost part of a lung and continues to have breathing and mobility issues, according to Rolling Stone.
The missing dogs were reunited with Gaga days after the crime, when a woman named Jennifer McBride claimed to have found them and returned them to a police station to inquire about Lady Gaga’s $500,000 reward. She was later found to be dating White’s father, Harold, and both were arrested on charges of accessory after the fact to attempted murder.
Others charged in the dognapping are James Jackson, 18, and Lafayette Whaley, 27. Jackson, mistakenly released by the LA sheriff in April due to what it called a “clerical error,” was recaptured this week.
Police said earlier that the assailants didn’t know the dogs belonged to Gaga and targeted the French bulldogs for their value.
