California Cops Apparently Used to Settle Batmobile Business Dispute

Tim Healey
by Tim Healey

This is a weird one. And a bit confusing. Stay with us as we try to explain.

ABC7 in the San Francisco area has quite the story.

It involves a Batmobile replica, law enforcement, and cross-country travel. Oh, and taxpayer dollars.


Here's what happened: California real-estate agent Sam Anagnostou ordered a replica of the Batmobile -- the version used in the original TV series -- from Fiberglass Freaks in Logansport, Indiana. Fiberglass Freaks is the only shop licensed by DC Comics to make these replicas -- which, by the way, appear to be street-legal and come with a working flamethrower. Anagnostou's ride would cost $210,000.

Shop owner Mark Racop says that Anagnostou's car would have been the first in a production line of nine, but Racop says Anagnostou missed a $20,00 payment and "disappeared" for eight or nine months.

Racop moved Anagnostou's order to the bottom of the list, pushing delivery back a year and a half, maybe two years. Racop says Anagnostou exploded at this.

Anagnostou filed a complaint with the Atherton police in San Mateo County, California, but the district attorney declined to bring charges. He also filed a lawsuit alleging breach of contract and fraud in San Mateo county, but a judge dismissed it, saying Indiana was the proper venue.

It's alleged that at that point, Anagnostou reached out to a Facebook friend of his, Carlos Bolanos, who is the San Mateo county sheriff. Bolanos in turn sent a lieutenant, sergeant, and two deputies to Indiana, where on July 19 they raided Fiberglass Freaks and took two sets of documents.

Racop was read his Miranda rights and taken to the local jail, he was released after an hour but police had a warrant for his email account and contacts and they froze his bank account. He was charged in California with two felonies: Obtaining money by false pretenses and diversion of construction funds.

The San Mateo DA, who once wrote a letter to Racop saying he wouldn't be charged, now claims there is additional evidence against Racop, but she wouldn't tell local news what it is.

Anagnostou avoided commenting when reached by ABC7 and Bolanis is apparently on a month-long vacation.

We're no legal experts, but this appears to be the kind of business dispute that would be settled, probably as a civil matter, in the area where the business is located. Not the kind of case that would require cops to fly halfway across the country and spend money on airfare, hotels, and meals.

Maybe the lawyers among you can sound off below.

[Video courtesy of ABC7 Bay Area]

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Tim Healey
Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

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2 of 9 comments
  • MeJ MeJ on Aug 03, 2022

    I had to comment just because of my avatar...

  • Leonard Miragliuolo Leonard Miragliuolo on Sep 15, 2022

    Nothing surprises me when it comes to California I spent 13 years in that dysfunctional armpit this is unfortunately what's running our country now but to be politically correct what the San Mateo sheriff's department did was totally illegal and did not follow due process and file complaints in the Indiana courts, the county the district attorney the sheriff's department and anyone involved should be heavily fined serve jail sentences and have to pay the gentleman in Indiana restitution for having to close his business and freezing his accounts. If they tried to pull this off in Florida they would have had a rude awakening, so be aware of this man who's actually still in acting realtor in Atherton this will probably put him out of business and also alert the IRS and the DOJ to investigate him and law enforcement in San Mateo County.

  • Slavuta Inflation creation act... 2 thoughts1, Are you saying Biden admin goes on the Trump's MAGA program?2, Protectionism rephrased: "Act incentivizes automakers to source materials from free-trade-compliant countries and build EVs in North America"Question: can non-free-trade country be a member of WTO?
  • EBFlex China can F right off.
  • MrIcky And tbh, this is why I don't mind a little subsidization of our battery industry. If the American or at least free trade companies don't get some sort of good start, they'll never be able to float long enough to become competitive.
  • SCE to AUX Does the WTO have any teeth? Seems like countries just flail it at each other like a soft rubber stick for internal political purposes.
  • Peter You know we’ve entered the age of self driving vehicles When KIAs go from being stolen to rolling away by themselves.
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