On Feb. 27, 2024, a screenshot of a supposed news headline was shared (archived) on X that claimed, "Burglar sues homeowner after being raped by German shepherds while stuck in house's pet door." The author's name showed as "Nickel Savers."
A search of Facebook for photos containing the words from the headline showed that it had previously been virally shared. We also found traces of the article appearing on Reddit, Instagram and TikTok.
However, this story originally came from an article published by World News Daily Report, a defunct website that once had a disclaimer page that said it publishes satire. In other words, this tale of a burglar being violated by two dogs never really happened.
The beginning of the article originally read, "A young home invader arrested after calling the police himself to report he was being raped by his victim's dogs, has filed an $850,000 lawsuit against his victims, alleging physical and psychological trauma."
The satirical article appeared to have been first published in March 2021. The beginning of the story went like this:
23-year old Jonas Carlson attempted to break into a Baton Rouge residence on February 26 by going through the residence's pet door.
Bad plan, worst execution
Unfortunately for him, things didn't work out exactly as planned and he got seriously stuck in the small entrance designed for dogs… and things only got worst from there.
According to the version of the events he presented in his lawsuit, the two German shepherds in the yard took advantage of his vulnerable position to tear his pants apart with their teeth and take turns raping him repeatedly.
Mr. Carlson claims the savage assault lasted more than an hour and a half non-stop before he called the police to turn himself in and 45 more minutes before the police arrived.
The mugshot that appeared with the story belonged to a young man named Sam Ogden, who was ridiculed by British tabloids after appearing to cry in his photo. He was arrested in the U.K. in 2018 after being suspected of attempting to steal cars. His case had nothing to do with dogs.