A South Carolina man put down a hefty $540 to purchase a troop’s entire stock of Girl Scout cookies so the girls could go home and get out of the cold weather.
The Scouts were stationed outside in Mauldin, South Carolina, by a Bilo grocery store.
Kayla Dillard manages cookie sales for Troop 1574 – a group her daughter belongs with.
In a Facebook post, Dillard posted to Facebook how the customer first arrived and purchased seven boxes of Girl Scout cookies for $40 — telling them to keep the change.
But she shared with Yahoo Lifestyle “we were all in total shock” when he came back with a new offer.
“Pack up all of your cookies. I’m taking them all so y’all can get out of this cold,” the man said, proceeding to purchase every box — including Thanks-A-Lots, Caramel deLites, Shortbread, Peanut Butter Patties, Peanut Butter Sandwiches, S’mores, Thin Mints and Lemonades.
“The girls were almost speechless,” Dillard shared with Yahoo Lifestyle. “Then they got busy trying to calculate his total.”
The total amount the man spent?
$540.
“We were just thankful,” she continued. But says she does not know who to thank as she did not get the man’s name.
“He mentioned he owned several businesses,” Dillard said. “We assume he was going to give the cookies away.”
After Dillard’s post went viral, she said that many people who think they know the man were tagged in the post.
And needless to say, folks were impressed by his sweet spirit, saying:
“Wow, what a great big heart he has!! Kudos to him for doing such a wonderful thing! That is something they will remember for the rest of their lives!” one person commented.
“This generous man probably shared the cookies with nursing homes, his employees/coworkers, homeless shelters and friends,” said another. “He seems to be a great person with a big heart.”
But the post has since been removed in a shocking turn of events as the mystery man in question was later identified by police as Detric McGowan.
He has since been arrested due to drug trafficking charges after months-long federal investigation.
McGowan has been accused of conspiring to “intentionally and unlawfully” possess heroin, cocaine as well as fentanyl with the intent to distribute, according to WSPA-TV.
Allegedly, he attempted to import drugs from Mexico.
The criminal activities in question began “at least in or around 2016” and continued up until the date of the indictment.
McGowan is one of 11 individuals named in the indictment with one name redacted.
Girl Scouts of South Carolina-Mountains to Midlands officials gave a statement to WSPA-TV:
“Nobody was hurt. Nobody was threatened,” stated the unnamed officials. “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.”
Moral of the story? Humans make mistakes but they also can be generous and kind.
Now, excuse me while I cry into a box of thin mints…
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