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Sep 16, 2008 12:13 pm US/Eastern
Gas Gouging Complaints Top 2300
TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) ―
Nearly two dozen gas companies will be slapped with subpoenas on Tuesday to explain their actions as Florida's Attorney General's Office continues to investigate complaints of gas gouging following Hurricane Ike.
The Attorney General's Office said they had received 15-hundred complaints of gas price gouging on Tuesday alone – bringing the total number of complaints collected over the last three days to 23-hundred. Gas stations in Hillsborough County received the most complaints (138) followed by Leon County with 126 complaints.
Investigators with the Florida's Attorney General's Office and the Department of Agriculture will start serving subpoenas on 20 gas companies on Tuesday. The companies served will be ordered to provide documentation related to the prices they paid for the gasoline and the price they sold it at.
Price gouging during an emergency is a misdemeanor, but it can lead to some substantial penalties. The state can charge up to $1,000 an incident. That fee can be stacked up to $25,000 a day.
If you have a price gouging complaint, you can call the Attorney General's hotline at
866-966-7226. The State Agricultural Department's hotline is
800-HELP-FLA.
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