New Bern fuel supplier not charged with gouging

A New Bern gas station owner whose financial records were subpoenaed last year will not be charged with price gouging. But he says he feels the state has "left the door open" to look at his business again.

Brian Fisher, the president of Fisher Stores Inc., was subpoenaed in September after the attorney general's office received customer complaints that gas prices were too high at his River Bend Fuel Market on U.S. 17. Mike Easley, who was governor at the time, initiated the investigation as gas prices topped $4 a gallon, and many station owners said those numbers reflected the effects of Hurricane Ike.

On June 3 of this year, Fisher received a letter that said the state had not found any evidence that he violated North Carolina's price-gouging law.

"Based on the information our office has obtained and reviewed to date, our office has not determined that a violation has occurred that warrants any further action at this time relating to ... River Bend Fuel Market," a letter signed by Assistant Attorney General Kip Sturgis stated.

The letter is one of a dozen the state sent out last week to people who were cleared after the state's gas station investigation. Attorney General Roy Cooper did recently file a lawsuit against a gas station owner in Yadkinville, and had in 2008 filed a lawsuit against a proprietor in Troy. The state also recently reached a $5,400 settlement with the owner of a Greensboro gas station, part of $56,000 in refunds and penalties being paid by 11 stations.

Fisher isn't exactly resting easy.

"I'm glad to get a response, certainly, and I do feel some relief," he said Monday. "But it concerns me that they don't say, ‘Fisher is innocent.'

 "This is math," he said. This is cut and dry. I gave them what they asked for the day they asked for it."

Fisher said he had records showing that he paid 10.4 cents more per gallon than he charged for unleaded gas sold during September 2008.

He said he thinks the November election was a factor in the length of the investigation.

"I think the election year certainly influenced it," he said. "They didn't investigate me for nine months. But thank goodness the people of Craven County have always been good to us."

Fisher owns 13 markets in the New Bern area and supplies fuels to independent stations.

Noelle Talley, a spokeswoman for Roy Cooper's office, said the state considers its investigation of gas stations closed. But Talley said the attorney general is still probing possible gouging by fuel wholesalers and distributors.

Nikie Mayo can be reached at (252) 635-5665 or nmayo@freedomenc.com.