Those aren’t sprinkles!
Authorities arrested a Bay Ridge ice cream truck driver on Aug. 5 for selling cocaine and pain-killers to an undercover cop.
District Attorney Charles Hynes announced police had netted the 20-year-old operator of the ice cream truck that often parks at the 69th Street-Veterans Memorial Pier in a sting code-named “Operation Snow Cone.” The borough’s top lawman chastised the suspect for using a kid-friendly setting and vehicle to peddle illicit substances.
“He chose to use these busy, family-oriented public venues to facilitate and negotiate his drug deals, and he brazenly sold large quantities of drugs right from the ice cream truck while children bought their ice cream just a few inches away,” said Hynes.
Hynes said that the accused is partial owner of the ice cream truck and an employee of the In and Out Halal deli at the corner of 73rd Street and Fifth Avenue — an intersection which residents have long complained is a hotspot for neighborhood drug dealers.
Police alleged that one of their undercover officers met the suspect at the In and Out Deli in June, and that the suspect told the officer he could get him drugs. The two traded phone numbers, and had several spoken and text conversations to set up a deal. They say that on July 1, the accused met with the cop again, and sold him a bag of cocaine for $825. The suspect then allegedly suggested that the officer cut the cocaine with another substance and re-sell it, and said he could also get the officer the controlled prescription pain reliever Oxycodone.
According to cops, the pair texted back and forth during the next month, and met again on Aug 1. The suspect allegedly led the officer to the ice cream truck at the 69th Street Pier, and the two went inside. There, the policeman took off his hat — which had $830 inside — and asked for a vanilla ice cream cone. The suspect reached into the hat, took the cash, and went and got the cone, plus a bag of cocaine and Oxycodone — unaware that the officer was videotaping him the entire time.
Police seized the truck and the suspects personal car.
Reach reporter Will Bredderman at wbredderman@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4507. Follow him at twitter.com/WillBredderman.
