Perhaps like me you smiled and shared the photo on Facebook of ‘Good Samaritan’ Detric McGowan, posted by a grateful South Carolina troop of Girl Scouts after he bought all their cookies—over $500 worth—so that the children could get out of the wind and rain as evening descended. The story the girls shared was that McGowan initially bought $40 worth of cookies from them in the afternoon as they stood in front of a Mauldin grocery store last week, and as the weather turned south, returned hours later and bought up all the rest. To be exact, he spent $540. 

 

All together now, awwwww!  

 

It’s such a relief, isn’t it, in this time of frightening news clanging at us from every direction that there are still good people out there doing good things every single… 

 

Excuse me, line one is ringing. 

 

Hello? I’m sorry, what’s that? 

 

Oh. Well, that’s awkward. Okay, thanks. 

 

Alright, it turns out that a few days after saving the Girl Scouts from a particularly miserable, cold and wet evening Mr McGowan was busted for (bear with me as I flip through this 21 page indictment) for an alleged ‘conspiracy to distribute heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl; racketeering; selling and distributing controlled substances, as well as, according to the court documents, ‘import heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl’ from Mexico and allegedly attempt to transport one million bucks outside of the United States. 

 

Wee doggies! 

 

So now where do we stand on his initial act of kindness? Do we still applaud him? And if we don’t, why? According to a spokesman from the DEA, McGowan’s alleged crimes have absolutely no relation to his good deed towards the Girl Scouts. And the VP of Marketing for the Girl Scouts even released a statement which read “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.” 

 

I think we can separate the two. I mean, not every person is all bad. Even Dr Evil loved cats. And not with a little lemon and dill, either. 

 

The fact is that Detric did a really good thing and I think he still deserves a pat on the back for helping the girls and getting them home, warm and safe and dry. Then he allegedly did a whole lot of bad things. And if he’s found guilty, he deserves what the court doles out upon him. 

 

Because he should know better. He knows, and we know, how certain substances are excruciatingly addictive and break down all human willpower.  

 

Especially the Thin Mints.