Ice cream truck driver charged with lewdness

SALT LAKE CITY — A Midvale man has been charged with 10 counts of lewdness after police say he engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior while selling ice cream to children.

Police say a mother was with her four children across the street from her Midvale apartment waiting to purchase treats from an ice cream truck on Sept. 2. More then seven children between the ages of 2 and 8 were lined up to purchase ice cream, according to charges filed Thursday in 3rd District Court.

The mother told police she thought it was strange that the man selling the ice cream was on his knees at the counter of the truck and that he was using only one hand to take money and distribute ice cream, the charges state.

The woman told police she suspected the man was fondling himself, and she expressed her concern to two men waiting with other children for ice cream. One the men walked up to the truck and witnessed the behavior, the charges state.

At that point, the ice cream vendor closed up shop and drove away quickly, according to the charges.

The ice cream vendor, Freddy J. Abrego, 49, has been charged with seven counts of lewdness involving a child, a class A misdemeanor, and three counts of lewdness, a class B misdemeanor.

— Jared Page