BS BULLETIN:
- Minnesota woman Cyrena Anne Quast’s mugshot went viral after social media users said she looked remarkably like Jennifer Lopez.
- Quast, 35, was arrested after allegedly stealing roughly $580 worth of power-tool batteries.
- Then came another twist: a fact-check found that an AI-manipulated version of her mugshot had also circulated online, exaggerating the resemblance.
Meet Jenny from the cell block. Or at least that’s what the internet has decided to call her.
Cyrena Anne Quast, 35, became an unlikely viral sensation after her Minnesota booking photo started circulating online and people noticed something familiar.
She looks an awful lot like Jennifer Lopez.
Quast was arrested Aug. 30 after allegedly stealing two double packs of power-tool batteries worth roughly $580 from a store in Monticello, Minnesota, according to a criminal complaint cited by Fox News and TMZ.
An employee reportedly recognized Quast from a similar alleged theft days earlier and contacted police.
She was subsequently booked into the Wright County Jail on a theft charge.
Then somebody saw the mugshot. And the alleged stolen batteries quickly became the least interesting part of the story. “It really does look like her!” one social media user said, according to Fox.
Another inevitably went for Lopez’s famous 2002 hit, dubbing Quast “the real Jenny from the block.” “Jenny from the cell block” soon followed.
Others suggested she could find a new career as a J.Lo impersonator.
Not everyone saw the resemblance.
One commenter quoted by Fox insisted Quast looked “absolutely nothing like her.”
And that’s where this story gets even stranger. Lead Stories reported Thursday that an image used in a New York Post X post about Quast wasn’t actually her authentic booking photo.
According to the fact-checking outlet, that version had been manipulated using artificial intelligence to make Quast look even more like Lopez. Lead Stories obtained Quast’s actual booking photo directly from the Wright County Sheriff’s Office and noted several differences, including facial piercings visible in the genuine image that disappeared from the altered one.
The outlet also ran the image through an AI-detection system that found a high likelihood it was AI-generated.
The New York Post’s actual article used the genuine mugshot, according to Lead Stories; the altered image appeared in the Post’s social-media promotion.
So yes, there really is a Minnesota theft suspect whose genuine mugshot has people comparing her to Jennifer Lopez.
But apparently somebody decided nature hadn’t made her quite J.Lo enough.
And gave Jenny from the cell block a little artificial assistance.
DBS WIRE SOURCES:
- Fox News — Minnesota woman’s mugshot goes viral over Jennifer Lopez resemblance
- Lead Stories — Fact check finds AI-generated version of viral mugshot
- TMZ — Jennifer Lopez doppelgänger poses for mugshot after theft arrest
- New York Post — Minnesota shoplifter’s mugshot goes viral
- People — Woman’s mugshot sparks Jennifer Lopez comparisons
