Second man jailed after stealing Lady Gaga’s French bulldogs

A 28-year-old man has been sentenced over his part in the theft of Lady Gaga’s French bulldogs, during which her dog walker was shot.

A second man charged with stealing Lady Gaga’s dogs in an episode during which her dog walker was shot has been jailed after admitting to his part in the robbery.

Lafayette Shon Whaley, now 28, was ordered to serve six years in prison for second-degree robbery over the theft, which saw the singer’s French bulldogs taken.

Whaley was part of a gang that shot Ryan Fischer as he exercised the three prize pets in Hollywood in February 2021.

Fischer sustained chest injuries in the attack and said on Instagram a month later he had suffered a collapsed lung.

Lady Gaga's dog walker Ryan Fischer in hospital. Picture: Instagram

Two of the three dogs were taken, leading the Poker Face singer to offer a $500,000 reward for their return.

Whaley’s sentencing came a week after accomplice Jaylin Keyshawn was jailed for four years, and after suspected gunman James Howard Jackson was recaptured.

He had been released from custody in what officials described as a “clerical error.”

Jackson is charged with attempted murder, second-degree robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, assault with a semiautomatic firearm and being a felon carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle.

Lady Gaga’s three French bulldogs were stolen during an armed robbery. Picture: GC Images

The woman who police said handed in the dogs in response to the reward has been charged with being an accessory after the fact and with receiving stolen goods.

Surveillance footage from the scene of the attack shows a car stopping near Fischer and two people jumping out.

One demands that Fischer “give it up” before a struggle, in which a gunshot is heard, and the dog walker falls to the ground, screaming.

Lady Gaga and one of her French bulldogs. Picture: Instagram

The attackers each grab one dog – Koji and Gustav – and leave Fischer shouting for help.

The third dog – Miss Asia – ran back to the dog walker after the robbers drove away.

Los Angeles police said at the time of the robbery they did not believe the dogs had been targeted because of their owner, but because of the value of the breed on the black market.

Small and friendly – and thus easy to grab – French bulldogs do not have large litters.

Their relative scarcity, and their association with stars such as Lady Gaga, Reese

Witherspoon, Hugh Jackman, Chrissy Teigen, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Madonna gives

them added cache, and means they can change hands for thousands of dollars.

Originally published as Second man jailed after stealing Lady Gaga’s French bulldogs