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Ice Cream Vendor Arrested on Drug Charge in Annandale

It was National Night Out, and as residents of an Annandale neighborhood
gathered to discuss ways to fight crime, police nearby tried to do their
part: They busted the ice cream man and charged him with selling marijuana.

Ice cream vendor Ousainou Lowe, 29, was arrested Tuesday evening after he
sold a small bag of marijuana to a 16-year-old youth, police say. The
police had received reports of "suspicious activity" around Lowe's truck.

With surprised neighborhood residents looking on, Lowe was stopped in the
3400 block of Annandale Road, shutting off his truck's jingly music just
before officers handcuffed him and took him to jail.

The sight of police stopping and searching an ice cream truck caught the
attention of Fairfax County Executive Robert J. O'Neill Jr. and police Lt.
Steve Smylie, who were visiting neighborhoods celebrating the national
crime-awareness night.

"We drive by and see several police vehicles and the Good Humor ice cream
truck," O'Neill said. The executive said he asked himself, "We pulled over
the ice cream man?" and decided to stop to see what was going on.

Lowe, of Hyattsville, was charged with distribution of marijuana and was
being held in the Fairfax County jail yesterday on $1,000 bond.

The youth who allegedly bought the marijuana, whose name was not released,
was detained as well; police say he was carrying a small amount of
marijuana. He was released to his parents and charges are pending against
him, authorities said.

The detectives who made the arrest, members of the county's gang
investigations unit, were in the area when they received a tip that some
low-level drug dealing was going on in the neighborhood, Smylie said.

The truck was returned to its owner late Tuesday so the ice cream inside it
wouldn't spoil, police said. Authorities did not identify the owner of the
truck but said Lowe was an independent contractor who worked for the owner.

Police identified the truck as a Good Humor ice cream truck, but Guy
Berliner, the Hyattsville-based distributor of Good Humor ice cream for
this region, said Lowe was not associated with the company.

Most ice cream vendors are independent contractors, he said, and it's not
unusual for owners to sell their trucks to unauthorized vendors. Such
vendors can buy ice cream from any store, he said, and high-level officials
at Good Humor have not taken any steps to crack down on unauthorized
vendors, Berliner said.

"We have complained to Good Humor about this," he said.

Lowe was not licensed to sell ice cream in Fairfax, county spokeswoman
Kathy Simmons said. People who want to sell ice cream on the street must
register with the county, which does a criminal background check and
gathers information on the perspective vendor. "You can't peddle without
having a license," she said.

Berliner said ice cream vendors shouldn't be held to any higher ethical
standard than people in other professions, but added that it was sad that
an ice cream man could have used his truck to sell drugs.

"I don't think the ice cream vendor is immune to the good and bad things
people do," he said.

Staff writer Wendy Melillo contributed to this report.

Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company