Dollar Tree locations across the country have become hunting grounds for “public gooning” stunts, according to lawsuits (KNSD).
A Colorado mother is suing Dollar Tree after a man allegedly ejaculated on her while she was shopping at the discount store with her child. She claims understaffing and a lack of security measures led to the sickening “public gooning” attack.
“This never should have happened,” Morgan Carroll, one of the victim’s attorneys, said in a statement to The Denver Post. “Dollar Tree has known about a pattern of serious safety issues impacting its customers and employees, particularly involving sexual assaults. Chronic short staffing and lack of investment in security measures directly lead to preventable assaults.”
According to the woman’s legal complaint, “public gooning” and “sharking” incidents have been reported at Dollar Tree stores across the country in recent months and years. Similar lawsuits involving suspects groping and putting bodily fluids on customers have been filed in California and elsewhere, the Post reports.
Social media memes and posts about the alleged attacks have gone viral, and the woman’s legal team lists nearly two dozen incidents of women being sexually assaulted at Dollar Tree stores between 2018 and 2026, according to the complaint. They include the alleged attack she suffered in Colorado Springs and another in Littleton, Colorado, where a woman was followed and groped.
“These incidents were clearly foreseeable,” the complaint alleges.
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The woman’s lawyers say the same man who attacked her was previously involved in a similar incident at another Dollar Tree in Colorado Springs in 2024. The chain never banned him, according to the complaint.
Police charged the man with indecent exposure and aggravated unlawful sexual contact, per the complaint.
Dollar Tree has not responded to requests for comment about the woman’s lawsuit. When asked about a similar lawsuit filed in San Diego, a company spokesperson told local NBC affiliate KNSD:
The safety and security of our associates and customers are our highest priorities. We take reports of inappropriate, unlawful, or harassing behavior in our stores extremely seriously. Any incident of this nature is unacceptable, and when we become aware of criminal activity, we cooperate fully with law enforcement and support their investigations.
Dollar Tree is committed to having effective safety and security programs. Through policies, training, and operational procedures, we work to maintain a safe and secure environment for associates, customers, and visitors. Our efforts include ongoing safety education, regular policy reviews, risk assessment and mitigation activities, investments in physical security measures, and collaboration with local law enforcement. We continuously evaluate and strengthen these programs as part of our commitment to the wellbeing and safety of everyone in our facilities.
Dollar Tree shoppers told KNSD it’s “disgusting” to hear about what’s been allegedly going on at the stores lately.
“What is wrong with people?” one person said.
The attorney representing the victim in San Diego, Alreen Haeggquist, told KNSD, “This is a phenomenon happening across the country, so much so that there’s a crypto coin for the ‘Dollar Tree Gooner.’ There is a Pokémon card for the ‘Dollar Tree Gooner.’ There’s a soundtrack for this conduct.”
Describing the attack on her client, Haeggquist said, “She kind of noticed the presence of somebody behind her and felt him wipe something on her. She realized it was semen.”
In that case, an active-duty U.S. Marine, identified as 22-year-old Noe Gonzalez Cresencio, is charged with lewd acts and sexual battery.
The post Man goes up to a mother shopping at Dollar Tree with her child and shoots bodily fluids on her as part of sickening ‘public gooning’ trend: Lawsuit first appeared on Law & Crime.
