Ice cream truck owners have cheated the city with millions of fines, according to New York officials

An ice truck crosses the streets of Brooklyn, NY, in June 2007. On Wednesday, city officials announced that they had begun seizing the vehicles involved in an alleged scam to avoid fines. nearly $ 4.5 million.

Bebeto Matthews / Associated Press

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Bebeto Matthews / Associated Press

An ice truck crosses the streets of Brooklyn, NY, in June 2007. On Wednesday, city officials announced that they had begun seizing the vehicles involved in an alleged scam to avoid fines. nearly $ 4.5 million.

Bebeto Matthews / Associated Press

I scream, scream, New York officials are screaming for ice cream truck owners to stop ripping the city of millions of dollars in fines.

On Wednesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the authorities had begun seizing 46 trucks of ice cream to crack down on operators who would have tried for years to avoid 22 495 summonses and avoid paying nearly 4 , $ 5 million in traffic violations.

Investigators involved in Operation Meltdown said that a group of homeowners had conspired to create dozens of fictitious companies between 2009 and 2017 in an effort to avoid paying fines for a misdemeanor. rainbows, parking lots near fire hydrants and pedestrian crossings.

"We all know from experience that ice trucks are magnets for kids," said Zachary W. Carter, a city lawyer. "In order to protect this particularly vulnerable category of pedestrians, our traffic rules must be strictly enforced."

In a lawsuit filed last week, the city accused truck owners of systematically re-registering trucks with the Department of Motor Vehicles under the names of various dummies. "Quick transfers of property" are intended to hinder, frustrate, hinder and delay the collection of judgments by the City, the documents said.

When the Ministry of Finance tried to collect the receivables, officials found that the debtors never had a bank account and that the research information of the defendants no longer existed.

The city targeted what it called the "worst offenders", those fined more than $ 10,000.

"No New Yorkers are above the law – especially those who try to ignore public safety laws and create dangerous situations for pedestrians, bikers and drivers," said Blasio. "This seizure marks the end of the road for these scale-type ice cream sellers."