TAMPA - Police ordered two men off the property of a Wal-Mart Sunday after undercover officers found them selling generators without a business license, according to Tampa police Sgt. Bill Todd.
The men weren't arrested, but Todd said information about possible price gouging by one of the men will be sent to the state Attorney General's office. Florida's price gouging statute sets civil penalties of $1,000 per violation.
Two undercover officers approached Eric Joseph Baier, 38, and Donald Wright, 56, at noon in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart at 1505 N Dale Mabry, Todd said. The officers learned Baier was asking $1,400 for a Troy-bilt generator sold at Lowe's for $659, and wanted $900 for a generator offered at Lowe's for $489.
Baier of Tampa later told officers he flew to Missouri, bought 10 generators and drove them back to Tampa in a rented vehicle.
Wright of New York had 10 and was selling them for $335, according to a police report.
Police warned Baier and Wright that they need a business license to sell such goods and ordered them to stop. A Wal-Mart employee also warned the men they were trespassing on private property, police spokesman Joe Durkin said.
"These guys were just entrepreneurs coming down to make money off other people's woes," Durkin said.
