Girl Scout cookie season is truly a magical time of year, which is why it was super sweet that a mystery man bought a South Carolina troop’s entire stock of cookies so they wouldn’t have to stand in the cold all day.
Troop leader Kayla Dillard told Yahoo Lifestyle that they were in “total shock” when the man gave them $540 in cash and told them to pack up all their cookies. Later that day, Dillard posted a picture of the scouts and the mystery cookie hero and the story quickly went viral. People all over the internet were truly touched by his kindness.
Dillard said she wanted to reach out and thank him again but she didn’t know who to thank because the man never disclosed any of his personal information. “He mentioned he owned several businesses,” she said. “We assume he was going to give the cookies away.”
Well, thanks to some internet sleuths – and the local police – the identity of the mystery cookie hero has been revealed, but it’s a far cry from the good samaritan people thought he was.
Facebook/Kayla Dillard
The identity of the mystery man has been confirmed to be Detric McGowan by the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office. McGowan, whose street name is “Fat,” is actually a drug trafficker who had been the focus of a federal investigation for months. Since the cookie story went viral, the feds were able to track him down and put him in custody.
According to his indictment, he’s being charged with a number of offenses including conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin, cocaine and fentanyl, drug trafficking and cash smuggling over $1 million. He even allegedly tried to import drugs from Mexico.
According to Fox Carolina, the Girl Scouts of South Carolina – Mountains to Midlands released a statement that said:
“Nobody was hurt. Nobody was threatened. We had no reason to believe that this man was anything other than one of our valuable customers that is helping Girl Scouts power awesome experiences through the Girl Scout Cookie Program. This is now in the hands of law enforcement and of course, we will cooperate with authorities.”
Spartanburg Co. Sheriff’s Office
According to Greenville News, nine other people were indicted as part of this drug conspiracy, including McGowan’s brother Richard Lamond Longshore aka “Bam.” Together they organized a pretty big drug trafficking operation where they distributed tens of thousands of heroin pills across the Carolinas. If convicted, McGowan, Longshore, and six of the other offenders could face life prison sentences.
Who knew buying a bunch of Girl Scout cookies would lead to a breakthrough in such large investigation? Maybe McGowan’s entourage had a huge appetite for Thin Mints, or perhaps he just wanted to do something nice for those girls. Either way, the mystery cookie hero turned into a cookie monster real quick.