Fact Check: Florida Man Abducted Scientist To Make His Dog Immortal?

Claim:

A Florida man kidnapped a University of South Florida professor to force the scientist to make his dog immortal.

Rating:

False ( About this rating? )

Most dog lovers might agree they would do anything to spend more time on Earth with their furry best friend. But, according to one internet rumor, one man went so far as to commit a crime to immortalize his four-legged friend.

The claim that a man kidnapped a scientist to "make his dog immortal" has surfaced on a variety of social media channels throughout at least a half-decade, from Facebook and X to YouTube and Reddit , such as the post below.

Florida man kidnaps scientist to make his dog immortal
by u/JustASimpleCubesmith in chaoticgood

Snopes found no evidence to confirm that the alleged crime occurred. Rather, our newsroom traced the above mugshot to a man arrested in 2014 for domestic battery and resisting arrest.

The dog-napping story appears to have originated in a July 20, 2018, post published on the website The Mother of All Nerds titled, " Man Abducts Scientist To Make His Dog Immortal ." It read, in part:

Florida man Philip Josef has decided that his dog should have eternal life because the loss of this loved one would be devastating. "he loves his dog too much, and he can't let it die," he explains. All dog owners would love to never have to worry about their four legged friend moving on to the afterlife. But Josef has taken it to the next level.

He is not trying to figure out how to immortalize his dog on his own. He doesn't understand Frankenstein's scientific formulas and the biological procedures necessary to accomplish this task. And Josef is not the giving up type. The idea suddenly came to mind, Why not kidnap a scientist! Says Josef to himself while laughing diabolically.

So "he kidnapped Ryan Lockhart, a doctor and scientist from the University of South Florida." One can only imagine what was going on in Ryan's mind at that point. No laboratory, no secret chemical formula to keep the dog alive forever, and a crazy guy holding him hostage trying to figure out what his next move was going to be. The good thing is that they found the Florida scientist before anything catastrophic occurred.

[...]

Scientists have also agreed to try and figure out how to make his dog immortal even though they might not be successful.

However, our newsroom found no evidence to confirm that the above story is true. We have rated this claim "False." For further information, we contacted The Mother of All Nerds and will update this article if we receive a response.

There are several reasons to doubt the article's validity. For starters, we conducted a keyword search ( archive ) of Google News, an archive of thousands of reputable news and information sites. No credible documents or reporting results were returned that could corroborate the claim. Although it's not labeled as such, the story appears to be a work of satire.

Snopes also contacted the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), which confirmed that this is not, nor has it ever been, an investigation conducted by the agency. An FDLE spokesperson recommended our newsroom reach out to local police and sheriff's offices in the geographic location where the kidnapping supposedly occurred. As such, Snopes contacted the Tampa-based University of South Florida, where the professor reportedly worked.

In an email to Snopes, the Tampa Police Department wrote:

We do not have any report with those names, nor an incident that is similar in nature.

Similarly, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office confirmed that there is no record for a "Philip Josef" in their system.

Snopes conducted a reverse image search ( archive and archive ) of the mugshot in The Mother of All Nerds article. We determined that the photo was first published in an article by NBC Miami and WPLG Local 10 News , a television station in Miami, Florida. The news reports did not describe a dog-loving kidnapper but rather a man accused of "attacking girlfriend with banana." Below is how the Jan. 2, 2014, story appeared:

Florida man arrested after attacking girlfriend with banana

Philiip Joseph Smolinksy charged with domestic battery and resisting arrest

TAMPA, Fla. – A Florida man didn't get his new year off to a good start after he was arrested for attacking his girlfriend with a banana.

After responding to their home on Wednesday morning, police say the girlfriend of Phillip Joseph Smolinsky accused him of throwing a banana at her head. A Pasco County deputy noticed a red patch on the victim's face where she said she was hit by the flying fruit.

The arrest affidavit shows that the same deputy also found a banana in a nearby garbage can and that parts of the peel were found on the ground near where the girlfriend was sitting.

In addition to the domestic battery charges, Smolinsky, 36, was also charged with attempting to resist arrest without violence.

Police say that pepper spray had to be used to apprehend Smolinsky.

Snopes adores dogs and has debunked many rumors related to human's best friend. We've looked into whether ice water is dangerous for dogs , if Taco Bell ended its famous ad campaign with a Chihuahua because the dog died. and detangled the difference between human and dog years .

Found a questionable claim in the wild? Submit your tip to our newsroom and we'll do our best to look into it.

Sources:

•. "Florida Man Accused of Attacking Girlfriend With Banana." NBC 6 South Florida , 2 Jan. 2014, https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/florida-man-accused-of-attacking-girlfriend-with-banana/118271/ .

Evon, Dan. "Snopes Tips: A Guide To Performing Reverse Image Searches." Snopes , 22 Mar. 2022, https://www.snopes.com//articles/400681/how-to-perform-reverse-image-searches/ .

"Florida Man Arrested after Attacking Girlfriend with Banana." WPLG , 2 Jan. 2014, https://www.local10.com/news/2014/01/02/florida-man-arrested-after-attacking-girlfriend-with-banana/ .

"Google News." Google News , https://news.google.com . Accessed 30 June 2024.

Moya, Cesar. "Man Abducts Scientist To Make His Dog Immortal." The Mother of All Nerds , 20 July 2018, https://themotherofallnerds.com/man-abducts-scientist-to-make-his-dog-immortal/ .

TinEye Reverse Image Search . 30 June 2024, https://web.archive.org/web/20240630170131/https://www.tineye.com/search/4630a7c04ad31b4eb30aaf74ecabb2bdcc7d2bcb?sort=score&order=desc&page=1 .

Wandering Lens Media. Florida Man Kidnapped Scientist To Make His Dog Immortal: Explained! 2021. YouTube , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XDXUiNm0uM .