Fact Check

Purina Employee Arrested for Stealing and Eating Over $30,000 of Dog Biscuits

Rumor: A Purina employee was arrested and charged with theft for stealing and eating $30,000 worth of dog biscuits.

Published May 14, 2015

Claim:

Claim:   A Purina employee was arrested and charged with theft for stealing and eating $30,000 worth of dog biscuits.


FALSE


Example:   [Collected via e-mail, May 2015]


Comment: Can you guys check on whether or not this article is true?

"Purina Employee Arrested for Stealing and Eating Over 30,000$ of Dog Biscuits"


 

Origins:   On 4 March 2015, World News Daily Report published an article titled "Purina Employee Arrested for Stealing and Eating Over 30,000$ of Dog Biscuits." On 14 May 2015, links to that article were posted to at least two of Reddit's subreddits (possibly prompting recirculation of the claim):



An employee of a Purina pet food plant, was arrested this morning by the Allentown Police Department and Pennsylvania state troopers, after being accused of stealing more than 30,000$ in pet food over the last 18 months.

A Philadelphia native, Barry Larson, is accused of stealing more than 150,000 Milkbone dog biscuits between the month of August 2013 and March 2015. Surprisingly, the 49-year old employee doesn't even own a pet, and would have ingested nearly 3000 dog biscuits per day during his work hours, according to Purina spokesman, Keith Schopp.


However, originating site World News Daily Report is a well-known as a purveyor of fake news. Moreover, the article was appended with a photograph of the purported suspect, but a brief reverse image search revealed that the man depicted was Carmen "The Cheeseman" DiNunzio, not "Barry Larson."
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World News Daily Report's disclaimer page states:



World News Daily Report is a news and political satire web publication, which may or may not use real names, often in semi-real or mostly fictitious ways. All news articles contained within worldnewsdailyreport.com are fiction, and presumably fake news. Any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental, except for all references to politicians and/or celebrities, in which case they are based on real people, but still based almost entirely in fiction.

World News Daily Report has also reported on such hoaxes as an eyewitness account of Jesus' miracles being discovered, that loggers destroyed the world's oldest tree, and that a Megolodon shark was found in Pakistan. It is also prominently featured in our article, "5 Fake News Sites to Avoid Sharing."

Last updated:   14 May 2015

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.