A disturbing new form of sexual assault is proliferating in Dollar Tree stores across the United States, where men masturbate and ejaculate on unsuspecting female shoppers—a practice known as 'sharking' or 'tagging'—and then post videos of the acts online for peer approval. Victims and their attorneys allege that the discount chain's inadequate security and understaffing have enabled these attacks, which are part of a broader online subculture of 'gooners' who bond over obsessive masturbation and compete for notoriety.
Victim's Ordeal at a Houston Dollar Tree
In early December 2023, a woman identified in court papers as MR visited a Dollar Tree in Houston's River Oaks shopping center to buy cheap Christmas props for her doggy daycare business. As she walked the aisles, a man stood close behind her, speaking graphically about sexual acts he wanted to perform on her. She told him to get away, but he followed her to the checkout line. After he left the store, MR felt something cold on the back of her leggings—the man had ejaculated on her.
'I didn't know how to react. I wanted to kill this man,' said MR, who was 47 at the time. When she reported the incident to a store clerk, the clerk shouted to a colleague in Spanish, 'Tenemos otra' ('We've got another one'), indicating that similar assaults had occurred at the same location. MR's lawyers later discovered that the store had been the site of multiple such incidents.
Scale of the Problem
MR's attorneys, Anna Greenberg and Ed Blizzard, have documented at least 63 officially reported sex crimes at Dollar Tree stores since 2017, with 16 involving masturbation or ejaculation. The number of incidents has risen sharply: fewer than five per year before 2020, but as many as 18 per year since MR's assault. Cases have been reported in Colorado Springs, San Diego, Miami, Philadelphia, and other cities.
'We couldn't believe how big the scale was,' Greenberg said. In one San Diego case, the same perpetrator assaulted three women at the same store within a week, with Dollar Tree allegedly doing nothing after the first two attacks. In Knoxville, Tennessee, a Dollar Tree employee named Collin Miller was caught on camera masturbating in front of customers in November 2024. He pleaded guilty to indecent exposure but was not fired; eight months later, he was accused of taking surreptitious photos up a 16-year-old girl's skirt, leading to a guilty plea for unlawful photographing.
The 'Gooner' Subculture
The assaults are linked to an online subculture of 'gooners'—men who engage in obsessive masturbation, often for hours or days, and share videos on forums and porn sites. Some gooners take pride in public acts, calling them 'sharking' or 'tagging.' MR's lawyers found a user named 'Goon-God' offering more than 200 sharking videos for $25 on an amateur porn site, including a clip that appeared to show an attack on a Dollar Tree shopper. Another gooner in Florida told police he regularly masturbated at Dollar Tree and uploaded videos to OnlyFans.
Sociologist Michael Halpin from Dalhousie University said the online community 'applauds it, supports it, uplifts it and calls for more acts like it.' Criminologist Adam Lankford of the University of Alabama noted that 'fame and celebrity are held up by many people as the ultimate form of success,' driving some to commit such acts for attention.
Dollar Tree's Response and Legal Battle
Dollar Tree has faced intense scrutiny over safety violations. In 2023, the Biden administration reached a settlement with Dollar Tree and Family Dollar, requiring them to pay $1.35 million in fines and overhaul workplace safety. However, critics say the company prioritizes profits over security. In MR's lawsuit, Dollar Tree argued she was not entitled to damages under Texas law because she suffered no physical harm. MR's lawyers counter that the standard is 'offensive contact.'
In a deposition, MR said, 'My life is not the same since that incident. I totally was caught off guard. I didn't have a chance to defend myself.' She added, 'You have to take accountability of what is happening in your stores. You're causing pain to people.' Dollar Tree stated it is 'committed to maintaining a safe and secure environment' and cooperates with law enforcement, but did not address MR's specific case.
Broader Implications
The phenomenon has spread beyond Dollar Tree. In January 2025, a man masturbated at a Bikini Beans coffee shop drive-through in Tempe, Arizona, and later killed himself after the video went viral. Supporters called him 'goonlord' and held a 'gooneral' protest. The term 'dollar store gooner' has become a meme, spawning a cryptocurrency, an unofficial Pokémon card, and a song by a Tennessee noise band.
Psychoanalyst Jamieson Webster said the choice of Dollar Tree is symbolic: 'A dollar store is the most abject place, where people who are already at the bottom go because they can't afford anything else. In some way this is about trying to get a leg up on the lowest rung you can fall to.'
MR continues to struggle with the aftermath. 'I feel like crying,' she said, 'and then I get so fucking angry.' Her lawsuit remains mired in preliminary motions with no trial date set.
