Pleasanton Grocery Store Owner Charged With Price Gouging

PLEASANTON, CA — The California Attorney General and Alameda County District Attorney's offices have charged Pleasanton grocery store Apna Bazar and owner Rajvinder P. Singh with nine counts of price gouging during the new coronavirus emergency, officials announced Thursday.

This is the first price gouging case brought in Alameda County, prosecutors said in a news release.

The complaint — filed Thursday in Alameda County Superior Court — accuses Singh of marking up yellow onions, ginger, green beans, instant noodles, black tea, chili peppers, yams and pomegranates. In some cases, prices were raised more than 300 percent, prosecutors said.

Attempts to reach Singh were not immediately successful, but prosecutors said Singh told them that "he had been forced to turn to other suppliers to keep his shelves stocked and they were charging more, and he was simply passing on the costs."

Customers started complaining soon after the state of emergency was issued, prosecutors said. California law prohibits people from raising the cost of essential goods and services by more than 10 percent during a state of emergency.

Singh has received a notice to appear in court and his arraignment is scheduled for July 9, prosecutors wrote.

Anyone who has believes they fell victim to price gouging or have any information about Alameda County price gouging incidents is asked to notify prosecutors at pricegouging@acgov.org.

Read the complaint here: