Is a mugshot that looks like Jennifer Lopez the real mugshot of a woman arrested for shoplifting in Minnesota? No, that's not true: The mugshot used in a post by the New York Post on X was generated with AI to look more like Jennifer Lopez. Lead Stories obtained the real mugshot of the woman; it is a different photo from the one used by the New York Post on X.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) by the @nypost account on X on Sept. 16, 2026. It read:
Minnesota shoplifter's mugshot goes viral for striking resemblance to Jennifer Lopez
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @nypost on X.)
Cyrena Anne Quast was arrested on Aug. 30, 2026, for shoplifting in Wright County, Minnesota. Her mugshot went viral due to her resemblance to Lopez. Multiple news outlets reported the similarities between Quast and Lopez, including the New York Daily News (archived here).
However, the New York Post used an AI-generated image of the woman's mugshot and manipulated it to look more like Lopez. The paper posted the doctored photo on X, leading people to believe it was Quast's real mugshot. The image does not show Quast's lip and nose piercings. This is a screenshot of the post on X at the time of publication:
(Image source: post by @nypost on X.)
The Wright County Sheriff's office emailed Lead Stories the mugshot from Quast's Aug. 30, 2026, arrest on Sept. 16, 2026. This is the mugshot shared by the sheriff's office:
(Image source: Wright County Sheriff's Office.)
The Hive Moderation AI-generated content detection tool gave the image posted by nypost on X an aggregated score of 97.7%, indicating the image is very likely AI-generated:
(Image source: Hive Moderation.)
The New York Post did not use the AI-generated image in the article (archived here). This is a screenshot of the real mugshot in the article:
(Image source: New York Post.)
