CANOGA PARK : Businessman Fined Over Price Gouging
A Canoga Park businessman was ordered to pay $2,700 in fines and $2,200 in donations to the Red Cross Earthquake Relief Fund after he pleaded no contest to price-gouging following the Northridge earthquake, the Los Angeles city attorney’s office has announced.
Robert Schurle, 58, owner of Plumbing City was sentenced in Van Nuys Municipal Court on two counts of price-gouging on home-repair equipment after the quake in January, 1994.
Schurle also was placed on two years probation.
The price-gouging ordinance adopted by the Los Angeles City Council after the 1992 riots makes it a misdemeanor to increase the cost of goods and services by more than 10% of the price those items were immediately before the declaration of a state of emergency.
Schurle was charged after complaints flooded the Los Angeles County Department of Consumer Affairs toll-free earthquake fraud telephone hot line.
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