There are career pivots, and then there is whatever Adam Fetcher just did. The 42 year old former deputy press secretary in the Obama administration was fired from his position as Chief Communications Officer for the City of Minneapolis on July 1 after an internal investigation found he allegedly stole cash and credit cards from coworkers. To buy kratom. Nearly five hundred dollars worth of kratom at a time, apparently.
Fetcher had been pulling down $186,495 a year in a role created specifically for him by Mayor Jacob Frey. He was the city's first ever cabinet level communications director, appointed in July 2025. His resume before that reads like a LinkedIn influencer's fever dream: Patagonia, Lyft, Rivian, New Belgium Brewing, a consulting agency he co-founded, and of course the Obama reelection campaign in 2012 plus a stint at the Department of the Interior. The man had options. And yet, according to multiple sources cited by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, he allegedly decided to rifle through the desks and purses of three city employees between mid May and early June 2026.
Here is where the story gets especially painful. Fetcher had just returned to work in mid April after a nine week personal leave that was approved so he could get treatment for a substance abuse disorder. So the city gave him time off, kept his six figure salary warm, welcomed him back, and within weeks he was allegedly swiping his coworkers' debit cards to fund smoke shop runs. That is a rough relapse timeline even by the most generous standards.
Surveillance video from a south Minneapolis smoke shop reportedly captured Fetcher using one of the allegedly stolen cards to make a $481 kratom purchase on June 18. The shop was less than a mile from his house. Employees there told police he was a frequent customer and even helped identify him by providing his license plate number after a cardholder reported unauthorized charges. When you are such a regular at the kratom store that the staff can ID you on sight and hand your plate number to the cops, your communications strategy has failed on a personal level.
The alleged thefts resulted in hundreds of dollars in fraudulent charges, mostly at tobacco stores and smoke shops. Minneapolis police submitted a case file to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office on July 8 for review of potential criminal charges. A spokesman for County Attorney Mary Moriarty confirmed the case is still under review, and no criminal charges have been filed yet. Under Minnesota law, financial transaction card fraud can be charged as a felony depending on the amounts involved.
For those unfamiliar, kratom is a legal herbal supplement derived from a Southeast Asian tree. Its alkaloids interact with opioid receptors in the brain, and it is sometimes used for pain relief or to manage opioid withdrawal symptoms. It is not federally controlled and is sold over the counter. Regular use can lead to dependence and withdrawal symptoms including anxiety and insomnia. So it is legal, readily available, and not even that expensive, which makes the alleged theft scheme all the more baffling. The man made nearly $190,000 a year. He could have just bought his own kratom like a normal person.
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