Ice Cream Man Who Sold Drugs from Truck Gets 3½ Years in the Cooler
A Staten Island ice cream man who sold drugs out of his truck has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison.
Louis Scala was accused of running a $1 million drug-trafficking ring out of his Lickety Split truck. Between 2009 and 2010, he acquired and sold approximately 43,000 oxycodone pills.
His sentence is the result of a deal, which found him pleading guilty to second-degree conspiracy and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.
Scala and a member of the Lucchese crime family reportedly acquired a blank prescription pad from another associate. A group of 28 "runners" would fill the forged prescriptions, and then the ice cream man would sell the drugs to neighbors and friends.
The scheme came to an end when one of the runners robbed a series of pharmacies.
Louis Scala is actually quite lucky to receive such a short sentence. He pleaded guilty to two Class B felonies, which carry a sentence of up to 25 years each. Based on his actions, he could have been charged with multiple Class A felonies, which are punishable by a life sentence.
The ice cream man was probably offered a plea deal so that prosecutors could avoid a long trial. They had sufficient evidence to convince a jury, but time and money are precious.
Yes, he is an ice cream man who sold drugs out of his truck. It's bizarre and there will always be questions about whether he supplied kids. But resources are limited, and prosecutors must pick their battles.
Related Resources:
- Ice Cream Vendor Goes to Prison for Selling Drugs (The Inquisitr)
- Ice Cream Truck Driver Sold Oxycodone Pills from His Truck (FindLaw's Legally Weird)
- Drunk Ice Cream Man Had Bottles of Urine in Freezer (FindLaw's Legally Weird)