A South Carolina man who made headlines after buying $540 worth of Girl Scout cookies was arrested by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and charged with conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and cocaine. Officials identified the man as 46-year-old Detric Lee McGowan, who is also known as "Fat."
Authorities named McGowan in an indictment filed on February 19 and alleged that he was part of a group of ten other people who conspired to import illegal drugs into the United States from Mexico. He has been arrested six previous times and has spent time in federal prison.
Robert J. Murphy, the special agent in charge of the DEA's Atlanta field division, said that McGowan “used his story of buying $540 of Girl Scout cookies to falsely shine the spotlight on himself under the pretense of being a pillar of the community; in reality, he is a pariah to the community.”
Karen Kelly, Vice President of Recruitment and Marketing for Girl Scouts of South Carolina-Mountains to Midlands said the Girls Scouts will cooperate with authorities and said that there was no reason to suspect McGowan was a criminal.
"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."