The Orange County Criminal Lawyer Blog
A man from Covina was detained early last week when the authorities allegedly discovered he was advertising N-95 masks for sale at a price that they believed was much higher than the value of the product with an intent to unfairly profit off the COVID-19 pandemic.
After they were given a tip, Baldwin Park Police Department investigators reported that they found two Craigslist advertisements posted by a seller offering N-95 face masks for $300 for a box of 20. They asserted that the price of $15 per mask seemed high compared to the assumed value of the items, and it was believed that the seller was purposely exploiting the public based on the recent high demand for the product.
The authorities decided to arrange a sting operation and they contacted the seller through the advertisement and asked to buy a box of the face masks.