A Fresno businessman will pay $20,000 in penalties following the resolution of a class action lawsuit filed by the Santa Barbara and Fresno counties district attorney’s offices.
Alejandro Alonso and his company, Alonso Imports, were found guilty of selling products at less than their advertised weight to businesses in Santa Maria and Lompoc. According to court documents, Alonso sold “at least 370 packaged food, spice, herb, and infusion products that weighed less than was represented on the product packaging.”
The Fresno-based business also operated with an inaccurate street address and failed to “state the net weight of [product] contents in both the customary inch-pound system and the SI metric system,” court documents said.
The violations were discovered during routine and follow-up inspections by the Santa Barbara and Fresno counties Weights and Measurement departments, who reported the issue to both counties’ district attorney’s offices.
“Short-weight products harm consumers because they are paying for an amount of product that they are not actually receiving,” Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce Dudley said in a statement. “In addition, competitor companies are harmed because violators can charge less for their products.”
The Sun was unable to reach Alonso by press time.
Court documents said the business operated at 1152 North Valentine Ave. in Fresno and dealt in distribution for “packaged food, spice, herb, infusion, and toy products.” At least one shipment record available online showed the company had imported from Mexico some 4 tons of “medicinal herbs” with a declared value of $7,845.
In his final judgement, Judge Timothy Staffel ordered Alonso to pay $20,000 to cover investigation costs, civil penalties, and restitution for the Consumer Protection Prosecution Trust Fund. The case was tried at the Cook Division Santa Barbara County courthouse in Santa Maria.
This article appears in Feb 15-22, 2018.