1. Write a brief overall summary of your findings.
Florida has a set of public records laws, often called the Florida Sunshine Law, which make most government records accessible to the public by default. This includes things like arrest records and booking photos. Because this information is relatively easy for journalists and the public to access compared to many other states, unusual or bizarre arrests in Florida tend to get reported and shared more widely. This is why there are so many “Florida man does X crazy thing” articles and memes. It also means there are a large number of real Florida mugshots available online. As a result, people sometimes take these legitimate images and pair them with exaggerated or completely fabricated captions to create viral posts.
I attempted to reverse image search the woman to hopefully find her actual court case, but it only led to reposts of the meme. When searching for an article about this incident, I was unable to find any reporting that shared similar details to the caption. The news station featured in the image, WXYZ 7 News, is a real news station from Detroit, Michigan (Notably not Florida), but I was unable to find an article or tweet about this incident. In fact WXYZ 7 News's twitter handle is @wxyzdetroit, whereas in the image it’s @wxyz7news. All of this leads me to believe that even the original tweet is not real and is just an edited image. The eyepatch is real, but almost definitely a medical device and not a pirate costume.
2. What primary sources did you find (e.g., transcripts, videos of politician speeches, tweets from public figures, scientific studies)? For each source, write at least one or two sentences explaining what you learned. Include all links.
https://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0100-0199/0119/Sections/0119.01.html - Explanation of Florida Public Record Law
https://x.com/wxyzdetroit - WXYZ 7 News’s Twitter
https://www.wxyz.com - WXYZ 7 News’s official website
5. What evidence supports the claim you are fact-checking?
There is no evidence that supports the original claim from the meme image that I can find.
6. What evidence undermines the claim you are fact-checking?
I can’t find the original booking or court case that the mugshot came from, meaning there is no way for me to definitely prove that the caption was not the crime she committed.
7. What happened when you tried contacting the person or group who made the original claim?
I have sent a private message to WXYZ 7 News asking about the image, if they respond I will add a comment with their input.
