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Some Ice Cream Trucks Driven By Predators

They're a summer tradition.

You see those ice cream trucks all over the place. But you might be surprised who is behind the wheel.

"Everybody jumps up and down and wants to be first," said Angela Cravens, who owns an ice cream truck.

She drives her truck almost every day.

"If it's above 30 degrees people will buy ice cream," she said with a laugh.

But she's the first to admit some ice cream truck drivers are downright dangerous. 

In fact, a police report shows an unidentified ice cream truck was involved in a drive-by shooting in North Nashville earlier this summer. No one was hurt.

"It needs to be regulated because you never know who is behind the wheel," Cravens said.

One driver, Travis Demont Wright has a long criminal history that includes arrests for selling cocaine and weapons possession. But when Metro police stopped him for a traffic violation last year, he was driving an ice cream truck for Goody Wagons of Nashville.

 "How did this person drive one of your trucks?" asked NewsChannel 5 investigative reporter Ben Hall.

"That's a good question," said Scott Thomason, a representative of Goody Wagons.

Goody Wagons is one of the largest ice cream truck companies in Nashville.  Thomason said the company conducts background checks and is cracking down on drivers.

"There are a lot of people in our trucks previous to that aren't here anymore for one reason or another," he said.

NewsChannel 5 Investigates followed one man in Columbia. The state took Ronald Decker's children away for neglect.  He's charged and awaiting trial for the rape of a 4-year-old girl. But he's allowed to sell ice cream to children.

NewsChannel 5 also found sex offenders who worked for ice cream companies in Memphis.

According to news reports, Frosty Treats hired Michael Dean in 2002. He is classified as a violent sex offender convicted of rape in 1986. Ivan Pryor is also a violent sex offender convicted of attempted aggravated sexual battery.

"We should take every precaution we can think of to protect our children from sexual predators," said State Rep. Debra Maggart.

She sponsored a bill that bans sex offenders from driving ice cream trucks in Tennessee.  It went into effect July 1.

"Children are drawn to ice cream trucks. They run out to a curb when they hear the ice cream truck go by," said the Republican from Hendersonville. "That would be a way a sex offender or a predator, I think, to entice a child."

Communities across the country are also cracking down on ice cream trucks. Bills are pending in Massachusetts and California that would ban sex offenders from driving ice cream trucks.

Rapid City, S.D., may require criminal background checks for all ice cream vendors.

"Run a background check I don't have a problem with it.  My drivers don't have a problem," Cravens said

Cravens supports tougher laws and so do the owners of Goody Wagons. Thomason said background checks make a difference.

"We've turned them away for violent crime. We've turned them away for bad driving records," he said.

"It shouldn't be about parents looking to see who's driving the truck before they actually come out," Cravens said.

But parents can't be too careful -- even with this summer tradition.

The new law banning sex offenders from ice cream trucks went into effect this week. But the law does not require companies to check a driver's background. So parents should be aware some trucks and companies are better than others.

Goody Wagons, the biggest ice cream truck company in Nashville, conducts criminal background checks on all employees. But not all companies have those same standards.

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