An ice cream vendor was pushing his cart at a park in La Colonia in Oxnard last year when he was summoned by two men and a woman, a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday.

Jason Rodriguez, also known as "Creature," told the vendor that he wanted to buy six ice creams and gave him $10.

Next, Rodriguez pulled out a gun and robbed vendor Jose Ramirez of about $20 and his wallet, and then helped himself to some more ice cream before running away, Deputy District Attorney Melissa Suttner said.

Suttner made her comments during closing arguments of Rodriguez's trial. The jury received the case late Wednesday afternoon.

Rodriguez is charged with robbery, intimidating a witness and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Prosecutors also allege he committed the crime for the benefit of a criminal street gang, the Sur Town Chiques.

Rodriguez is facing seven years to life in prison if he is convicted of all the felony charges, Suttner said.

"(The victim) was scared," Suttner told jurors. "He was watching the gun to see if the defendant was going to shoot him."

Suttner told jurors that Rodriguez, a second man, Juan Meza, and a female suspect, Yvonne Jacinto, ran in different directions after the robbery.

She said Ramirez went looking for Rodriguez, hoping to retrieve the wallet, which contained his identification papers. Ramirez found Rodriguez sitting half a block away and eating ice cream. Rodriguez ran when he saw Ramirez, the prosecutor said.

"He told him, Wait, I just want my wallet back,'" Suttner said.

Rodriguez returned with Ramirez's wallet but made Ramirez give him $5 to get it back, the prosecutor said.

In her comments to jurors, Rodriguez's lawyer, Donna Forry, minimized her client's role in the crime and challenged the testimony of Meza and Ramirez.

Forry described Meza as a desperate witness who will say and do anything to "save his own skin."

"He minimized his own involvement so he can look better himself and make Mr. Rodriguez look worse," said Forry, who works at the Public Defender's Office.

She said Meza was facing 12 to 25 years in prison.

On Wednesday, Meza pleaded guilty to robbery and was sentenced to 414 days in jail with credit for time served and 36 months probation, according to Suttner. In August, Jacinto, 22, pleaded guilty to robbery and got three years' probation.

Forry criticized the testimony of the prosecution's gang expert, Oxnard Detective Ken Peeples. She said her client left the gang years ago, saying that Meza isn't a gang member to shore up her argument that the crime wasn't committed for the benefit of a gang.

"He (Peeples) spins whatever it is to support his opinion," she said. "It took a long time to admit that some crimes are not for the benefit of a gang."

According to court testimony, Rodriguez and Meza were both on drugs when they allegedly robbed Ramirez.

Ramirez, who has apparently left the area, didn't testify in court, but his testimony from a hearing held weeks after the incident was read to jurors.

"He told me not to say anything. We know where you live,'" Sutttner said Ramirez testified that Rodriguez told him after returning the wallet.

Suttner told jurors that Rodriguez is a gang member and pointed to the evidence against him, including photographs showing him and gang members flashing signs.

Suttner played tape-recorded jail telephone conversations that Rodriguez had, including one where he brags about the robbery.