Man claims he's living in fear of MS-13 after lying about stealing a brick of ...

A Tennessee man who tweeted out an elaborate, viral tale about the time he stole a brick of heroin from MS-13 is now claiming that the story was a lie and has started a fundraiser to help him go into hiding because he fears for his life. 

Shane Morris, a web developer from Nashville, Tennessee, took to Twitter Monday night with a 109-tweet thread recounting a road trip he took with a friend. 

'Y'all wanna hear a story about the time I accidentally transported a brick of heroin from Los Angeles to Seattle? I bet. Alright, let's do this...' Morris tweeted.  

Web developer Shane Morris (right) went viral after writing a Twitter thread about a road trip during which he found a kilo of heroin in a van (pictured) and sold it, only to later learn the drugs belonged to MS-13 members

Web developer Shane Morris (right) went viral after writing a Twitter thread about a road trip during which he found a kilo of heroin in a van (pictured) and sold it, only to later learn the drugs belonged to MS-13 members

Morris posted the thread on Twitter Monday evening. It contained 109 tweets

Morris posted the thread on Twitter Monday evening. It contained 109 tweets

On Friday, Morris started a GoFundMe, requesting donations to help him 'go into hiding' because he feared for his life after getting threats about the story

On Friday, Morris started a GoFundMe, requesting donations to help him 'go into hiding' because he feared for his life after getting threats about the story

What followed was a saga about how he and his friend bought a cheap van to use during their road trip, discovered a kilo of heroin inside it and sold the drugs to someone to get it out of his hands. 

Some time later, the original owner of the van's recently incarcerated son phones him up and asks if he can buy the van back, at which point Morris decides he's going to milk the guy for about $10,000 while tricking him into thinking that the heroin is still in the van, using a cleverly-wrapped copy of John Grisham's The Pelican Brief.  

Morris ended the Twitter thread by noting that: 'In 2017, the guy I ripped off for his brick of heroin was found guilty, with four other guys, of raping and murdering a 13 year old girl. They were all prominent MS-13 gang members. He got LWOP'd in his sentence. So it looks like he won't be killing me.

'... and that's the story of the time I bought a van with a brick of heroin in it that belonged to an MS-13 gang member, sold the brick, and then sold him his van back with a wrapped up John Grisham novel, for $10,000. Somehow, I didn't die.'

The tweets were supplemented with pictures from the road trip.  

In no time at all, Morris' story went viral, garnering more than 128,000 likes and 67,000 retweets. 

But, after three days of basking in the social media spotlight, Morris — a former music blogger — turned to online publishing platform Medium to recant the entire tale. 

'I Lied. I Made The Whole Thing Up. Now I’m In Huge Trouble,' was the title of Morris' post Thursday. 

Morris wrote that he 'made the whole thing up' and 'Most importantly, I definitely didn’t rob an MS-13 gang member. In retrospect, that’s probably the dumbest thing you can write and put on the internet.'

He went on to note, 'Think about the story you just read for a moment: If I had actually sold a fake brick of heroin, that I claimed I stole from an MS-13 gang member, and they really had my name and cell phone number… I wouldn’t be alive right now.'

Morris admitted that he crafted the fake story to 'showcase my writing abilities, and get attention' and ultimately learned from the exercise that 'The reality of this situation is that I should probably be writing screenplays, rather than coding software.' 

'I’m just an opportunistic a***hole with a brilliant imagination,' he wrote. 

After basking in social media fame for three days, Morris posted on Medium admitting that the whole story was a pack of lies, he hadn't actually found any drugs

After basking in social media fame for three days, Morris posted on Medium admitting that the whole story was a pack of lies, he hadn't actually found any drugs

The only true part of the story was that he and his friend had gone on a road trip in a dodgy van

The only true part of the story was that he and his friend had gone on a road trip in a dodgy van

Morris (in white) said that he made up the tweets to 'showcase my writing abilities, and get attention' and call himself an 'opportunistic a***hole with a brilliant imagination'

Morris (in white) said that he made up the tweets to 'showcase my writing abilities, and get attention' and call himself an 'opportunistic a***hole with a brilliant imagination'

NEXT Mother's fury after being told to 'hide' to breastfeed her baby at Premier Inn ... trends now