GREENVILLE, S.C.—A South Carolina man who bought more than 120 boxes of Girl Scouts cookies to help the scouts escape the cold has been arrested on drug charges.
News outlets report the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency says 46-year-old Detric Lee McGowan was arrested on Feb. 26, on charges including conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and cocaine. The agency says McGowan is the same man who appeared in a photo that garnered thousands of views and shares online.
Mother Kayla Dillard had shared the photo on Facebook, saying the man paid $540 in cash for all the girls’ cookies so they could escape the cold outside a store near Greenville, South Carolina. She said she didn’t get the man’s name.
An indictment issued last week says McGowan, also known as “Fat,” is one of several suspects in an ongoing drug investigation. It says he and 10 other people conspired to import drugs from Mexico in late 2018. The U.S. Attorney’s Office says authorities are still searching for one of the suspects.
The group schemed to import the drugs from Mexico and distribute them throughout the Carolinas and other states.
According to authorities, McGowan is also suspected of trying to smuggle more than $1 million in cash out of the United States.
The scheme started in 2016.