LOS ANGELES — The criminal branch of the City Attorney's office here has amended its complaint against Ralphs Grocery Co. and its corporate parent, Kroger Co., to include additional violations of the city's Business and Professions Code. The new counts allege that a store in South Los Angeles was overcharging customers on posted prices of certain items.
Kroger officials could not be reached for comment.
In May the City Attorney filed a 59-count criminal complaint against Ralphs and Kroger following undercover investigations between January and March, alleging Ralphs was overcharging customers on prepackaged and weighed products following undercover investigations at 14 Ralphs stores earlier in the year, which turned up 14 counts of false and misleading advertising; 18 instances of unlawful computation of value; nine instances of selling prepackaged commodities in lesser quantities than represented; and 18 counts of false labelling.
An arraignment is scheduled for July 29 in Superior Court. The latest investigation, conducted in February and March, charged three additional counts of false advertising and two counts of scanner overcharge, with potential fines and penalty assessments for each defendant of up to $35,150.
