STUDIO CITY : Man Pleads No Contest to Price Gouging Charges
The former manager of a 7-Eleven convenience store in Studio City pleaded no contest Thursday to increasing prices of food and other supplies after the Northridge earthquake.
Mohiuddin (Dallas) Chowdhury admitted raising the prices of items sold at the store by more than 10% to capitalize on the needs of people affected by the Jan. 17, 1994, temblor, said Mike Qualls of the Los Angeles city attorney’s office.
Chowdhury, 36, of North Hollywood, who now manages a 7-Eleven in Glendale, was ordered to return to Van Nuys Municipal Court on May 4 for sentencing.
He was charged with violating a Los Angeles Municipal Code price-gouging section that was adopted after the 1992 riots, Deputy City Atty. Don Kass said.
Investigators responding to consumer complaints about the Studio City 7-Eleven store in the 11000 block of Ventura Boulevard found that Chowdhury price-gouged customers on such items as ice, batteries, bottled water, milk and charcoal, Kass said.
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