Community provides support to Batmobile maker following raid by California officers

Aug. 3—The Logansport community is rallying around local business owner Mark Racop as he prepares to fight two criminal charges filed in California due to a business dispute. Racop owns the only shop licensed by DC Comics to build fully-functional 1966 Batmobile replicas.

Racop said customer Sam Anagnostou stopped making payments on his custom Batmobile for nearly nine months. After that time, Racop moved Anagnostou's car to the bottom of his list so he could focus on paying customers. He said Anagnostou then payed off the car in full but became angry when he was told his car would be delayed.

Members of the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office raided Racop's business, Fiberglass Freaks, on July 19 after Anagnostou filed a complaint. ABC7 News reported that Anagnostou is friends with San Mateo Sheriff Carlos Bolanos and asked him to take action against Racop's business as a favor.

Bolanos sent four officers to Logansport with a warrant to search Fiberglass Freaks. Cass County Sheriff Ed Schroder said local authorities provided support and acted as a liaison to the officers but were not made aware of details pertaining to the case.

Racop was sent to jail for an hour and had his assets frozen. He is charged with obtaining money by false pretenses and diversion of construction funds.

Despite his accounts being frozen, Racop is required to fly to California for his arraignment on August 19. He was reluctant to ask the community for help but said he currently does not have much of a choice and set up a GoFundMe page.

"People knew that the cars were expensive, and I knew that there would be a kind of stigma attached to it and people would say, 'Why is he having a GoFundMe when he sells these expensive cars?'" Racop said. "But the account is frozen. There's no access to the money. What little money I have is being used for everyday expenses regarding the business and payroll, and it's very expensive to hire a California attorney and pay for airfare and hotels."

Racop also had to post bail after learning that there was a warrant for his arrest in California. He said he did not know about the arrest warrant or the criminal charges until two days after the raid and only found them by chance when he was researching. He was required to post a $10,000 bail.

"It's horrifying," Racop said. "Every single moment of this has been a nightmare, and this part of it was no less of a nightmare. It actually doubled down on the nightmare. It's not good. Not good at all."

After several people recommended that Racop start a GoFundMe, he eventually gave in. By 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, 73 people had raised over $6,1000.

"The name of it is Justice for Batman," Racop said. "The outpouring of support has been just tremendous and very, very appreciated. It's overwhelming and has brought me to tears many times. I'm just thrilled that so many people have shown their support for what we're doing."

John Hopper, owner and president of Hopper Development Inc., was one of the community members who donated to Racop's GoFundMe. Hopper said he has known Racop since they were in school and has always admired Racop's film company, Magic House Production Inc., because he enjoys film equipment as well.

"When I first saw the YouTube (news) video on Saturday, I was in disbelief," Hopper said. "I thought it was fake. ... It just made me feel so terrible."

Hopper said he thought it was generous of Racop to give Anagnotou nearly nine months to make a payment and completely understood from a business standpoint why Racop bumped Anagnostou's car to the bottom of the list. He added that Racop is a good person and said he was more than happy to donate once he saw the GoFundMe.

"It looked like there was a lot of nice support," Hopper said. "The one thing that did worry me was that maybe there are a lot of people who don't realize what Mark does. He actually builds automobiles in our small town and they're unusual because they're Batmobiles. There's no place else in the United States that is licensed to do that. In that respect, it's such a unique thing that he does. I feel like the community should give him a pat on the back. It's a unique thing to Logansport."

Researcher and Logansport resident Thelma Conrad also donated to Racop's GoFundMe. She noted that Racop is a great guy and said donating was a "no-brainer."

"I wanted to support him," Conrad said. "I was just so appalled at the situation. It really bothered me that anyone with the type of money it takes to by that type of service would do this."

Conrad said it is frightening to consider that this could happen to any business owner said she believes that the situation should have been handled between Racop and Anagnostou. She also noted that Racop have given back a lot to the community and encouraged the community to help however it can.

"I'm sure that there are those out there who are scratching their heads over this and probably wondering why everyone is all of a sudden jumping to (Racop's) aid," she said. "To those who aren't sure why so much support is going into the monetary portion of what he needs, I think you have to almost be in business or have a business of your own to really know what that feels like. When you're in business for yourself there's no clocking in or clocking out. It's 24 seven, and it's your name. Your name is on everything that leaves the building. You have to ask yourselves (what you would do) if this was your name being questioned."

While Racop is grateful for the donations, he said the kind words and care he has received so far mean more to him than anything.

"More important than the GoFundMe is the overall support," Racop said. "The prayers are very much appreciated. I'm up against Goliath here, so it's going to take a lot."