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Pleasanton grocery store owner charged with price gouging during COVID-19 crisis

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Published  May 7, 2020 4:38pm PDT
Coronavirus in the Bay Area
KTVU FOX 2

Store owner charged with price gouging

Ann Rubin reports.

A Pleasanton grocery store owner was charged by the Alameda County District Attorney's office with price gouging on essential food items.  

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley on Wednesday announced the misdemeanor charges against Rajvinder Singh, owner of Apna Bazar. 

The complaint alleges that Singh inflated prices on some goods by 300% percent after Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency on March 4 in response to the COVID-19. Once an emergency declaration is made, the state's price gouging law goes into effect.

O'Malley said in some cases, "the original price was crossed out and a new price was put in."

The items included everything from onions to noodles to tea. Authorities first noticed the complaints on social media, then used customers' receipts to document a pattern.

They said in one case, an item was priced at $2.99 on March 2 and was $4.99 by March 13. By March 16, the same item had gone up to $6.99.

Becerra said, "We’ve collected the evidence, with a lot of help of good people who’ve sent us tips, and we filed the action and we’ll do that wherever we have the opportunity."

The owner of Apna Bazar did not return KTVU's request for comment but apparently told authorities he was simply passing on increased costs from suppliers.

Attorneys said they never received any documentation of that. And they said other Apna Bazar stores did not show similar increases.

"We looked at the other stores. This is the only store where we found the evidence of price gouging," says O'Malley.

Authorities say they are taking these kinds of cases very seriously. But they need the public's help.

Authorities say they are taking these kinds of cases very seriously. But they need the public's help.

"Give us a receipt, a photo of a website, photo of a product, those things help us," Becerra said. Adding, "Probably the best advice is, 'Buyer Beware.' Do not assume people are working in good faith."