"We have made it clear to our membership that price gouging is an abhorrent act and an unacceptable practice in any situation, particularly in the middle of a global pandemic,” the group’s leaders, William Rodriguez and Elizabeth Peralta, said in a statement. “The reality is that our members are NOT price gouging. We are seeing a tremendous amount of misinformation from the media causing false accusations and irreparable harm to our members’ reputation in the community.”