That viral story about the Ohio man who purportedly tattooed a pile of excrement on the back of his wayward girlfriend?

Fake. Fake. Fake.

As the fable goes, “Rossie Brovent” was expecting her boyfriend, “Ryan L. Fitzjerald,” to ink a scene from “Narnia” on her back. Instead, having found out that “Rossie” had cheated on him, a vindictive “Fitzjerald” retaliated by delivering a tattoo of a steaming, swirly pile of excrement encircled by several flies.

“Rossie” claimed “Fitzgerald” tricked her into drinking a bottle of “cheap wine” and tequila shots, which incapacitated her for most of the time it took him to ink the tattoo.

According to the story--which is accompanied by a photo of the purported tattoo--“Brovent” this month filed a $100,000 civil lawsuit against “Fitzjerald.” The former couple are described as “trailer park residents” from Dayton in the story.

As seen above, the photo appears legitimate. In fact, it first surfaced online about 18 months ago as part of a “Worst Tattoo of the Day” post on the blog I Am Bored.

The image reappeared this week--complete with a backstory about the fractured love of “Rossie” and “Ryan”--on a sketchy “weird news” web site that appears to be dedicated to ginning up its Googe AdSense impressions.

A review of court indices, of course, shows no such civil complaint has ever been filed (either in federal or state court) by “Brovent.” James Druber, administrator of the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court (where Dayton residents file their six-figure complaints), said that he had heard nothing about the purported tattoo lawsuit.

Additionally, a review of the Nexis database turns up no “Rossie Brovent,” or, in fact, anyone with that surname. And a search for “Ryan Fitzjerald” (with or without the middle initial “L”) turns up nobody with that name.

Records for Dayton and Montgomery County show no evidence that “Fitzjerald” (or “Fitzgerald”) has been licensed as a tattoo parlor operator or employee, according to Alan Pierce, an official with the Public Health department.