Fact Check

Was a Man Named Carl Twinly Arrested For Pretending to be a Cow?

The mugshot included in this rumor is genuine, but the story?

Published April 12, 2022

 (Ringsssss.com)
Image Via Ringsssss.com
Claim:
A man named Carl Twinly was arrested in Texas after he pretended to be a cow in a milking competition.

In April 2022, an image of a person in a cow costume was circulated on social media along with a decidedly NSFW claim about its origins. The person in the photograph was named Carl Twinly, the meme claimed, and he had been arrested after tricking people into fondling him while he pretended to be a cow in a milking contest:

This is not a genuine news story.

This image is a screenshot of a fictional story that was published on the satire site Ringsssss.com in December 2021. This satire story started:

Carl Twinly of Beaumont Texas has been arrested on charges of public indecency and masturbation by deception. Mr. Twinly posed as a dairy cow during the local 4-H milking competition. Carl was milked by a total of 13 contestants before his ruse was uncovered.

While Ringsssss states in a disclaimer that it is a "fabricated satirical newspaper and comedy website," many people encountered this story after it was removed from its original context and started spreading online detached from any explicit indication that it was a satire story.

The story about "Carl Twinly" is a work of fiction. However, the mugshot shown above is real. It was taken in 2008 and shows a woman who was arrested in Middleton, Ohio. According to Fox 19, she had been hired to dress up as a cow to promote a local haunted trail. She was arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct after she allegedly got drunk, chased some children, and interrupted traffic.

Fox 19 reported: "A Middletown woman is behind bars, charged with disorderly conduct after she was arrested while wearing a cow suit ... Police say Michelle Allen was getting in the way of traffic and chasing children while wearing her cow suit. She's also accused of urinating on a neighbor's front porch."

Sources

“Man Pretends To Be A Cow In Milking Competition, Gets Jacked-Off For Hours.” Ringsssss, 24 Dec. 2021, https://ringsssss.com/human-interest/man-pretends-to-be-a-cow/.

“Police: Woman in Cow Suit Had Been Arrested Many Times.” Https://Www.Fox19.Com, https://www.fox19.com/story/9097572/police-woman-in-cow-suit-had-been-arrested-many-times. Accessed 12 Apr. 2022.

Dan Evon is a former writer for Snopes.