A former Barack Obama press secretary was fired from his chief communications role for the Minneapolis city government and accused of allegedly stealing hundreds of dollars in cash and credit card purchases from fellow employees to fuel his habit for kratom — an herbal “gas station” drug with addictive properties.
Local officials ousted Adam Fetcher, 42, from his prestigious job as Chief Communications Officer (CCO) for the City of Minneapolis after only a year in the role as the result of a police investigation into theft and claims of substance abuse, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported this week.
Kratom comes from a plant native to southeast Asia and is typically sold in gas stations and smoke shops. High doses result in an opioid-like high. Excessive use can also darken a person’s skin into a grey-blue hue, a dead giveaway to kratom abuse.
The substance is reportedly banned in nine states — Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
Gov. Tim Walz’s Minnesota is not one of them.
Fetcher’s dismissal has cost him a salary of nearly $190,000 a year.
Police accused Fetcher of stealing money and credit cards out of the desks and purses of three employees and using the funds fraudulently at tobacco stores, according to the Star Tribune’s report. Fetcher was captured by a CCTV surveillance camera allegedly buying $481 of kratom at one store.
The store was less than a mile from Fetcher’s home. Staff there told police a woman called them, reporting someone had made a transaction she never made or authorized. The next time Fetcher dropped in on one of his frequent visits to the establishment, workers photographed him and followed him outside.
“We told him, ‘Hey, we know what you’re doing,’” store manager Hamza Zamara told the Star Tribune, adding that staff later provided Fetcher’s license plate number to the police.
Prosecutors could charge Fetcher with a felony for fraudulent use of a credit card for the $481 amount. Court records examined by the Tribune show that Fetcher has no criminal history in Minnesota beyond minor traffic infractions.
According to the Minneapolis newspaper, “Minneapolis police submitted a case file against Adam Fetcher, 42, to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for potential criminal charges on Tuesday. A spokesman for County Attorney Mary Moriarty confirmed that the case remains under review.”
Ironically, Fetcher reportedly had gotten clean and sober this year in a city-approved rehab but apparently relapsed. The theft occurred between May and June, just weeks after Fetcher returned from that substance abuse treatment, the New York Post reported.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey appointed Fetcher in the summer of 2025, making him the first-ever cabinet-level CCO, according to news outlets.
His resume was impressive. He served as deputy national press secretary for the Obama administration, and then went on to hold top communications roles in the private sector for the popular outdoor clothing manufacturer Patagonia, car company Rivian, and ride sharing company Lyft.
Fetcher was dismissed from his city job on July 1.
This week, a city official sent an email alerting city employees to recent reports of “missing cash, debit, or credit cards” and unauthorized charges, presumably to determine if other workers had been hit with fraud.
Breitbart contributor Lowell Cauffiel co-founded Primary Purpose Productions, a non profit that made films that prompt people with drug and alcohol dependency to seek recovery. He is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
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