Former Ice Cream Truck Driver Sentenced For Lying About Armed Robbery

CANTON, GA -- A Canton ice cream truck driver who was charged with fabricating a story that he was robbed at gunpoint has been sentenced in connection to that case.

Joseph Heath Wade last month pleaded guilty to one count of false report of a crime, which is a misdemeanor. He received a sentence of 12 months in the Cherokee County Jail, and will have to pay restitution in the amount of $1,149 to the ice cream trucking company in the case.

In March 2016, detectives with the Cherokee Sheriff's Office arrested and charged Wade with giving a false statement and false report of a crime after he told police he was robbed at gunpoint.

Wade, who was 31 at the time of his sentence, told authorities he was robbed on March 14, 2016, by "four black males while sitting in his ice cream truck at a church parking lot on Reinhardt College Parkway in Canton," sheriff's office spokesperson Lt. Jay Baker previously told Patch.

Wade stated between $500 and $600 was stolen, money he said was proceeds from ice cream sales.

However, investigators reached out the owner of the truck, Atlanta Ice Cream Truck, Inc., and learned a large amount of ice cream was missing from the truck Wade was tasked with driving. Detectives also learned that the Canton resident had been fired from the company before conjuring up the story.

Baker said while detectives were interviewing Wade, he admitted he made up the story about the robbery and "claimed the missing money was used to pay the drug debt of another person."

Court documents also show Wade must perform 120 hours of community service, pay various court fines and not possess or consume any illegal drugs or alcohol while on probation.

Image via Cherokee Sheriff's Office