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North Carolina Investigating Over 600 Hurricane Florence Price Gouging Complaints

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein speaks to reporters in 2017. (AP Photo/Emery Dalesio)

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein's office says the state is looking into roughly 650 price gouging reports as of Tuesday afternoon.

The complaints have mostly been related to gas and water purchases.

Under North Carolina law, the definition of price gouging boils down to charging a price for essential services that is “unreasonably excessive under the circumstances.”

Stein wants businesses to know that price gouging remains illegal as long as a state of emergency exists in North Carolina.

"Our hope is, because the law is only about ten years old in North Carolina, is that with businesses knowing it's there, and knowing that our office is ready and willing and able to enforce it if necessary, that businesses are complying with it and they are not raising their prices unreasonably in the wake of this disaster," said Stein. 

Stein adds that as floodwaters recede, he expects to see an increase in complaints related to charitable donations, home repair and tree removal.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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