Santa Rosa ice cream street vendor also sold cocaine, police say

(Image courtesy Santa Rosa Police Department)

Posted: Oct 23, 2023 / 04:45 PM PDT

Updated: Oct 23, 2023 / 04:45 PM PDT

(KRON) — A Santa Rosa street vendor who sold ice cream and chicharrónes to children around the neighborhood near an elementary school was caught selling more than tasty snacks, police said Monday.

Victor Martinez-Diaz, aka Siro Gilberto Ambrocio-Santos, is a 49-year-old Santa Rosa resident. According to police, he periodically pedaled a tricycle with a mobile street vendor snack cart around Abraham Lincoln Elementary School on 9th street.

The Santa Rosa Police Department Narcotics Team suspected that the ice cream man was also a local cocaine dealer. During SRPD’s investigation, an undercover detective bought a gram of cocaine from Diaz close to the school, police said.

A few days later, detectives saw Diaz getting into a white van. When police stopped the van to search it, they found a street vendor tricycle, snacks, cocaine, methamphetamine, cash, a digital scale, and hundreds of small plastic baggies.

Two more local street vendors, 29-year-old Marcos Ambrosio-Cortes and 21-year-old Jose Cazares, were also busted for drug sales, according to SRPD. Detectives conducted surveillance on Jennings Avenue, where they saw Cortes and Cazares enter a white van.

“They drove away and were stopped and detained pursuant to a search warrant. Detectives searched the van and located two street vendor bicycles inside with various food items. Detectives located a black fanny pack that contained a loaded 9mm semi-automatic handgun, US currency, and 7 plastic baggies that each contained approximately 1 gram of suspected cocaine,” police wrote.

Cortes was booked into the Sonoma County Jail on the following charges: