[Updated]: Owner of Williamsburg’s Gwynnett St. Accused Of Trafficking Molly
Photo by Jessica Nash
Last night, the Daily News broke the startling news that Carl McCoy, owner of Williamsburg’s wildly popular and well-reviewed Gwynnett St., has been accused of participating in an alleged molly ring. According to the paper’s reading of a Brooklyn Federal Court complaint, “Carl McCoy told federal agents he was having money troubles and agreed to receive a package containing “rocklike” synthetic methylone.”
The paper also reports that McCoy approached by authorities after a package containing the drug and addressed to him at the restaurant was intercepted at JFK Airport, and has been released on $25,000 bail after cooperating with law enforcement officials to bust his co-conspirator.
For his part, McCoy told the Daily News that the whole thing is a “complete misunderstanding,” adding, “I never confessed. I’m free. If I did what I was accused of, I’d be in jail now. I didn’t do anything wrong.” As Grub Street points out, the Daily News‘ initial reports were sort of all over the place, alternately referring to the drug in question as methylone, “narcotics,” and crystal meth. For their part, Gwynnett St. has vehemently denied the whole thing on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/GwynnettSt/status/411247100119113728
So, a little hard to say what’s actually going on here. We’ll include updates as they come.
[Update:] McCoy reached out to Eater earlier this afternoon with the following statement:
As people may be aware, some unfortunate accusations and claims have been made against me and my character. I would like to state for the record this entire episode stems from a tragic abuse by someone I have known for years. This started when a friend requested a package to be delivered to my business. I declined this request, and yet an item was sent anyways which was of interest to the federal authorities. The resulting report and information cited are from my attempt to rectify this situation by working together with the appropriate authorities. At no time would I ever undertake the accused activities for personal or professional gain. Thank you for your understanding.
Follow Virginia K. Smith on Twitter @vksmith.
