Last week we wrote about the battle between a NorCal real estate agent and the only licensed builder of 1966 Batmobile replicas. To recap: The California buyer had a dispute with the builder, and asked his buddy, the San Mateo County Sheriff, to get involved, sending multiple California police officers to raid the shop in Indiana.
The situation is super sketchy, and we were shocked that criminal charges were being pressed against Mark Racop, owner of Fiberglass Freaks and builder of said Batmobile.
Now, according to a report published on Friday, things could be looking up for Mr. Racop. San Mateo County district attorney Steve Wagstaffe has taken notice of the bizarre situation and started to ask questions about what the hell is actually going on here. Wagstaffe has canceled Racop’s August 19 arraignment hearing for the time being.
According to an interview with ABC7 Bay Area news, Wagstaffe became aware of the situation after seeing that outlet’s original report published on July 29. The DA is reportedly considering throwing the case out entirely, pending the results of an internal investigation by the DA’s office. Here’s the latest report from ABC7:
Interestingly, Wagstaffe’s office approved the search warrants, which the district court judge in Indiana also signed off on, allowing the raid. Whether this is a case of the DA changing course in response to public outcry, or Wagstaffe’s actual concern over the overreach and misuse of power by the sheriff, remains to be seen.
We reached out to DA Wagstaffe’s office for comment but didn’t receive a response in time for publication.