You might have caught the firestorm over the weekend, after The New York Times published the story of a pair of Tennessee brothers who had grabbed up all the hand sanitizer and other cleaning supplies they could find, in an attempt to make "crazy money" re-selling the stuff on Amazon. Amazon and E-Bay got wind of schemes like it and shut down the accounts of people suspected of price gouging, including the main guy in the story, Matt Colvin.

Following the report, the Tennessee Attorney General got involved and is launching an investigation into price gouging. On Sunday, Colvin's attorney issued a statement, saying Colvin was donating all the rest of the supplies, about "17,700 bottles of stuff," according to the NYT story, to churches near him.



It's reports like that which have Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel on the lookout for price-gougers in the area. Not only are price gouging and hoarding supplies during crises such as a virus outbreak ethically dubious, the practice can mean that fewer supplies are available for people who may need them. 

"I encourage anyone who experiences excessive pricing of good related to COVID-19 to immediately call the DOJ's [Department of Justice's] Consumer Protection hotline at 1-877-877-9392. If the Governor determines an 'abnormal disruption of the market' exists in Deschutes County, and makes such a declaration, I will have a zero tolerance policy toward offenders," Hummel wrote Sunday. "If you're putting our community at risk in order to make a buck during a time of crisis, in addition to rotting in hell, you'll face the full weight of the legal power granted to me by the people of Oregon."

The Source has not gotten wind of any local price gouging reported to us as of yet, but alert us to any information you have related to this or other COVID-19-related stories by emailing editor@bendsource.com.

And see all our updated COVID-19 coverage at our COVID-19 HQ page.