Gasoline stations accused of price fixing

Five Detroit area gasoline station owners have been charged with price fixing.   The five gas stations are located in Madison Heights and are within 2 miles of each other. 

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette says an inside source claims the gas station operators agreed to keep their prices within a penny of one another on at least five days in February and early March of this year. 

Schuette says there is a difference between watching your competitors’ prices and colluding to keep everyone’s prices high. 

"People are trying to pay their bills….make their mortgage…put food on the table.  We just can have illegal, dishonest gas station operators trying to rip off Michigan consumers….that’s not going to fly.”   

If convicted, the gas station operators could face jail time and fines.   The companies that own the individual gas stations could face fines of up to a million dollars.