Dollar Tree’s chronic understaffing and lack of security measures have made stores nationwide a “hunting ground” for sexual assaults involving what’s known as “gooning,” the act of public masturbation, a new Colorado lawsuit alleges.
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The lawsuit, filed last week in El Paso County, alleges a woman shopping with her child and mother was victimized in March 2025, when a man followed the family around a Dollar Tree in Colorado Springs and ejaculated on her.
That man was arrested and charged with indecent exposure and aggravated unlawful sexual contact, according to the lawsuit. The same man had previously been involved in a similar incident at another Dollar Tree in Colorado Springs in December 2024, but was not banned from the chain, the lawsuit alleges.
The new lawsuit stems from a series of “public gooning” and “sharking” incidents reported at Dollar Tree stores across the country, where strangers approached customers and either ejaculated on them or wiped semen on them from behind.
In a statement Tuesday, an unnamed Dollar Tree spokesperson said the company takes inappropriate behavior extremely seriously and cooperates with law enforcement once officials become aware of criminal activity. Dollar Tree also has ongoing safety education and regularly reviews policies and risk assessment.
Morgan Carroll, one of the attorneys for the family suing Dollar Tree, said in a statement the incident never should have happened.
“Dollar Tree has known about a pattern of serious safety issues impacting its customers and employees, particularly involving sexual assaults. Chronic short staffing and lack of investment in security measures directly lead to preventable assaults,” Carroll said.
The incidents happen so frequently that they have become social media memes, the lawsuit alleges.
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The lawsuit details nearly two dozen incidents of women being sexually assaulted at Dollar Tree stores between 2018 and 2026, including the Colorado Springs assault and another where a woman was followed and groped at a Littleton location.
The problem of people entering Dollar Tree stores, exposing themselves and masturbating on or groping customers “is common enough to have earned its own name online — ‘nut-and-dash,’” the lawsuit stated.
Dollar Tree typically staffs its stores with a skeleton crew of one to three people, the lawsuit alleges. Those employees cannot watch the entire store from the cash register or respond quickly to emergencies, the lawsuit said.
And, despite awareness of these incidents, Dollar Tree has not invested in security guards or required its real estate partners to provide security, the lawsuit alleges. The stores often do not have working security cameras, and those that do typically cover only the cashier or high-theft merchandise, not the full store or parking lots.
“These incidents were clearly foreseeable,” the lawsuit stated.
The Guardian first reported on the “disturbing rise” of “gooning” incidents in July. Dollar Tree appeared to be a favored location for the attacks, The Guardian reported.
The Colorado lawsuit accuses Dollar Tree and the private equity companies that own the land and building where the store sits of negligence for “failing to create a safe environment for customers.”
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