toledoblade.com --

THE price gougers now plying their larcenous trade in the wake of Hurricane Charley in Florida deserve a special hot spot in whatever torturous afterlife may be reserved for such miscreants.

While numerous acts of heartwarming charity have been reported since the storm roared across the Sunshine State last week, the horror stories abound: ice at $10 for two bags that formerly sold for $1 each; $3 a gallon for gasoline instead of $1.78; $23,000 to chain-saw two trees off the roof of an Orlando home.

This is nothing short of criminal behavior, and the complaints are coming in fast and furious to Florida consumer protection authorities. Let's hope officials are well equipped to track down and penalize the malefactors, because cleanup of the $10 billion or more in damage left by Charley will take months, if not years, to complete.

The tales of deprivation of homeless residents, many of them elderly, are legion. Electricity, telephone service, and water are only now being restored to some areas. Floridians are learning what it's like to live in a semitropical climate without air conditioning or even screens to keep out disease-carrying mosquitoes. They also are learning the depth of greed in the hearts of some individuals, who are jacking up the prices of items ranging from portable generators to tar paper for roof repairs.

One family who fled from the Tampa area drove all the way to West Palm Beach, on the other side of the state, before finding a motel that wasn't full. When they did, the rooms, advertised prominently at $39.99 a night, were being rented at $109.

A customer filed a complaint with the state attorney general's office, which logged more than 1,400 similar complaints about gouging within a few days after the storm.

Fortunately, Florida has a strong deceptive practices law, which - appropriately enough in a state with a large proportion of senior citizens - provides for a $10,000 fine, or $15,000 if the victim is over 60. Price gouging is punishable by a $1,000 fine, which seems nowhere large enough to deter unscrupulous merchants and contractors.

One injustice that can't be remedied is the fact that, following the devastation wreaked in Florida by Hurricane Andrew in 1992, many insurance companies raised deductibles on homeowner policies to an astounding 5 percent of a dwelling's value.

If the roof needed to be replaced on a $200,000 home at a cost of, say, $10,000, the homeowner would receive … nothing.

Now that's a crime.

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