Kern County District Attorney's Office says complaints about price gouging have dropped

The Kern County District Attorney's Office says complaints filed about price gouging have dropped since the pandemic began.

Officials with the DA's office said since March, they have received 86 complaints from citizens. Not all complaints could be verified as price gouging under the statute.

The DA's office said for the ones where unlawful price gouging appeared to be potentially occurring, they prepared and served warning letters and educational material to the businesses. They said overall, that method seems to have proven effective, as the majority of complaints came in the early days of the pandemic, but have tapered off since then.

Twenty-six businesses received such letters from the DA's office. All have since complied and no criminal prosecution against them was ever pursued.