I'm sick of criminal activity by govt officials described as "screwups", "mistakes", "bad judgement." Civilians NEVER get that benefit by the very same officials.
And when we get reviewed a finger is almost always pointed. The evidence is that the investigating officer was trying to do the complaint at a favor. The regular updates (even though supposedly not requested) reek. The reliance on the complainant’s investigator reeks. Further, in my life I have been told by three LE departments and a prosecutor the same thing about civil action pretty much removes the situation from criminal court.
So you’re claiming that they used good judgement? -- No, I’m not excusing them. Bad morals would suffice to explain, and bad morals are not a thing you want from anyone in ANY position of power.
@Kenny Phillips yes, he was booked at an Indiana jail but due to heart problems wasn't extradited to California but was told that he would be charged and be available to travel to California
Werefrog of Assyria, how is this a false arrest? the car was supposed to be completed in a year. 22:50 from 2017 to 2023 is how many years? also, the final payment from the buyer was for a completed car. when cops went to that shop, there were no completed cars there
@Gavno Nadoroge because the guy failed to pay for the car and thus got put at the bottom of the line. Are you stupid? He paid a deposit to get on the list, he didn't lay the complete amount when it was due.
Sadly this is the nature of an unfettered capitalist society. If you have money you are above the law and or can make up laws to favor you. When people say the US is the best country in the world , I point to things like this . This should make normal citizens sick.
The thing that absolutely killed me about this is that the sheriff obviously doing a favor for his friend was able to lock this guy's liquidity up for month. I own a small business and that could possibly kill me. And it was all up to this point considered legal. That is not how America is supposed to work. This is exactly what corruption looks like.
This was the part of the story that bugged me also because I don’t think a sheriff could do that by themselves they would have to have a judge do it. How did this get past the judge? You would have to have been a judge in Indiana I would guess unless the man’s bank is in California.
Amnesia seems to run rampant in the law enforcement community when they are called to account for their activities. "I don't recall" "I can't remember" is their mantra.
That’s what the lawyers from the department and the union told them to say whenever they get handed a difficult question. You can’t lie. You can’t refuse to answer (unless you’re pleading the fifth). So what can you do? Well, legally they can’t try to force you to answer a question if you say you don’t remember what the answer is, so abuse tf outta the good ‘ole “I don’t recall” card if the answer would land you or the department in legal hotwater! 👌
I used to live in Iowa, a state that allows cops to read prepared statements and police reports during examinations, and answer no other questions, after one too many cops couldn't keep their stories straight on the stand. The court is perfectly find with the police reading what they wrote at the time, and not answering any other questions posed by counsel, that aren't covered in their statements. Iowa's judges are basically telling its citizens, "the police lie so much that we needed to help them keep their lies straight."
Anyone who gave the green light on this should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. False reporting, kidnapping, extortion, illegal use of funds, just about every line was crossed, they should all be spending years in jail for this
@@JonBroun Qualified immunity is for civil cases. It does not apply to criminal. It's also the most blatant "judicial activism" the court has seen, writing law from the bench.
One of the most disturbing aspects of this case is learning that Keystone Kops can freeze bank accounts. That power used to require due process and a court order.
Steve, I think this Batmobile guy must have suffered financially and much mental anguish as a result of this sheriff's unlawful false arrest. Surely he can find an attorney to sue those bastards in California for triple damages, pain and suffering, and attorney's costs?
We had a client who complained his neighbor pulled up his survey stakes. We had the county sheriff (big cheese himself) respond to letters saying he needs to enforce the law by playing dumb and acting like it’s some complicated civil manner over his head and our client should sue if he thinks he has a land dispute. He hand waved whether it’s a crime to intentionally interfere with land survey monuments. No exaggeration. Acted like he never heard of that before. Took 3 letters strait up telling him it’s against the law and he needs to enforce the law before he admitted he needs to act if it happens again. (I think 3rd or 4th time destroying survey stakes). He had no trouble figuring out just about everything the neighbor ever complained about our client was a potential criminal matter for the Sheriff. The neighbor literally called deputies on their personal cellphones to complain that our client said mean things to them As they pulled survey stakes out. Warned our client swearing could become disorderly conduct. If you know the sheriff you can get the sherif help right in the middle of commiting an obvious crime. Feigned Incompetence as a defense seems t be a common strategy used by public servants. Not my fault, I’m incompetent, how could my dumb ass ever imagine…..
It’s scary and disgraceful to see the law be permitted to get twisted into whatever personal agendas one has, whether it’d be to sit on your ass all day or invent an excuse to retaliate against someone you have personal beef with, so long as the accusers offer “the correct” statements to get the results they want. Don’t like the political candidate a civilian is supporting with a sign on their front lawn? Wait outside their home until the civilian is physically present, arrest the civilian on the spot, then write an affidavit claiming the civilian was “threatening”, “combative”, “aggressive”, and “belligerent” as a way to obfuscate the _real_ reason why you arrested them and brought them before the judge. Then the judge would be inclined to go along with “the official” narrative and sentence the accused to jail for “threatening” an officer.
Sounds like The Institute For Justice needs to do a counter-lawsuit against them, to punish everyone involved with that man's false reporting, kidnapping, and extortion, as well as in the illegal use of funds and what other illegalities were done, and get paid for the damages, including image damages caused by having it's business halted and slowed down by everything that happened, including having to appear in court.
@@thomasmyers9128 While it could be argued that is how it is interpreted, that is not the purpose of Qualified Immunity. Qualified Immunity applies to mistakes, not knowingly breaking the law.
@@concernedcitizen1874 … totally agree…. Same with forfeit laws… it’s for drug dealers organized crime… anyone making money illegally…. I can’t count how many abuses Not little things like someone’s vehicle (5k to 75k)…. But cash… 150 to 200k(smaller amounts too the blue crooks aren’t picky) … and up…. 2 that come to mind… 1 was a 20 year vet… sold his house…,didn’t trust banks .. could easily prove, which he shouldn’t have too, didn’t matter, they wanted to play let’s make a deal… or you can sue us…. The other was a man (Indian) going to buy a little store… he owed several stores.. Zero criminal history…. Same “ let’s make a deal”…. Both were 6 figure sums… Never fails give them common sense uses of something and they abuse it …. and use it the way never intended… Qualified immunity was for accidental things As soon as they got court approval… they’ll knowingly stomp on peoples rights… I’ve seen many videos where they brag about it. That isn’t what it was meant for…. So time for it to go…. Good Samaritan Laws covers enough …. If your in L.E. You should know the constitution…. Bill of rights…. And main court cases about searching, seizures, stopping, detaining etc… it’s only your job… and how do you take an oath… if you don’t know… It’s that important of a job…. Act like it…
They call it "screwups", I call it straight-up corruption. For the cost of the trip the California officers made out there, I'd also call it fraud, waste, and abuse.
I like how most people interviewed can recall extensive details about every point of this case except when it is time to recall something that may be embarrassing to them.
I’m a retired Prosecutor and Judge and I can tell you why the head Prosecutor didn’t tell his assistants to cooperate. He didn’t want the truth to be told as it would make him either look complicit or incompetent.
Even if there was fraud, the california sherriff had no business taking a california team out of state. His advice to his donor should have simply been to contact the police local to the business that he is accusing of the fraud or perhaps, the FBI.
California has a track record of overreaching on all kinds of fronts. They have even went so far as to try and tax people that have moved out years earlier!
I don't understand why the California deputies arrested him. They were out of their jurisdiction and the local police did not have probable cause. Nor did they have a California warrant. The Logansport Police would be setting themselves up for a wrongful arrest if they arrested him. I just hope the Indiana builder deducts his costs from the buyer's deposit.
What bugs me the most.........the only reason this became national news was because it was "the Bat mobile." This made it news worthy to be covered by the local news, that later got the full attention of the public. I suspect stuff like this is more common than we care to think, but only an oddity brought it to public view.
And not just quite common, but historied. There is a reason why there is a cliche of the crooked sheriff siding with the murderous cattle baron. There is even a famous incident of a rich untouchable monster being shot by half the town, but there being not a single witness, all because the cops couldn't do a thing to him.
Another issue that concerns me is the lack of scrutiny that the court in Indiana placed in issuing a warrant to an outside agency. The judge on that warrant should drawn red flags from the probable cause affidavit. If it was falsified, those officers should be charged in Indiana. At the very least, they should be sued personally.
It's not really the judge's fault. The search warrant was to find evidence of specific crimes. The judge wasn't to know that the evidence didn't exist.
What red flags? The judge was presented the case by the sheriff’s department which at the time alleged a fully assembled car had been given to one person over another. The judge does not have the defendant's story. The judge does not have the full case. Some sheriffs from California with warrants from California want to get warrants in Indiana. Other than a cursory check that the sheriffs were actually sheriffs on a case, the judge does not need to know any more.
@@minhduong1484 The judge should look at the testimony (affidavit) from whomever that applied for the warrant. If the story laid out, or the person's credibility isn't up to par, the warrant request should be rejected. They can hold hearings and demand more evidence or many other things. Sadly, most warrants simply get a glance over and are signed off regardless; the judge expects the (future) defense attorneys to find any issues. There's no consequences for judges that don't do their job. No accountability anywhere in the judicial system.
Two of you do not understand how the legal system works. One of the main tasks of the judicial branch of government is to scrutinize the actions of the executive branch. When a police officer applies for a warrant (search or arrest), they file an affidavit of probable cause. In that affidavit, the filing officer has to lay out what their pc for search or arrest is. It is a signed and sworn affidavit. I have submitted literally thousands in my career. One of the first things any reputable judge will do is ask several questions of the affiant as to how they arrived at this point- ESPECIALLY if it is an agency that has no jurisdiction in that area. In this case, the statement that was sworn contained false affirmations. In other words, they lied. (This can be further evidenced by the fact they doubled down on the car builder and threatened to arrest him and did not allow him to consult his attorney while they were searching his property) After there was return of service on that warrant and the facts came to light, the agency with jurisdiction in Indiana should have investigated those deputies. Understand that when they left their jurisdiction, they became ordinary citizens- warrants or not. They had no power to execute a search without the commissioning authority in Indiana. So, again I say, that should have waved huge red flags to that judge. And we see the truth here- some rich douchebag got upset because he didn't make his payment on time and got sent to the back of the line. He tried to get the city police in his hometown to press charges. They declined, along with the DA initially. Then he tried to file a suit and the case was dismissed. He threw a tantrum and went and got the sheriff, whom he had deposited money into his coffers, to go after the car builder. The sheriff, being the politician he is, obliged his donor and sent his goons to make this man's life hell. The judge that signed the warrant has power and responsibility to scrutinize affidavits brought to him/her before and after warrants are signed.
And I see the last comment before my reply. You are exactly right- most judges don't waste time with reading the affidavit. But, it is their responsibility. I can understand in cases where the judge has a rapport with the officer. I've gotten numerous phone warrants that way. However, that was after years of reputation building and solid testimony in their court.
Steve, if I recall correctly the "buyer" didn't respond for a long time for the $20,000 payment requested, which is why he lost the place in the queue. When he did finally responded, he paid everything left and was expecting to still be in the same place in the queue. I really think it should mentioned how long that period of time was.
Actually hope this is not the end of the story, hoping for police corruption charges, a law suit to make the builder whole again and for one particular individual to Not get his Batmobile Ever!
No "evidence" of police corruption, government is not liable for incompetence......if the victim gets anything it will be for convenience of the government hoping it will go away.
@@sittingindetroit9204 Well, Leishman did a decent job of making a case that he was an idiot rather than a crook (under the direction of a crooked sheriff). While this is probably enough to raise reasonable doubt and skate on criminal charges, I think that a civil suit would stand a decent chance. AFIK batmobile guy hasn't filed a suit. I can hardly blame him if he has no faith that the system will help him.
If i was the builder i would cancel the deal ( provided he was smart enough to give the ability to do so inthe contracts ) Return the guy's money and never take business from him again. All those california law officers, prosecutors involved should be fired and banned from law enforcement and /or law practice.
@@ScamallDorcha Never crossed my mind, since I watch it from outside. And even though I was born in summer, I'm betting I was born long before you, yet Still I believe there is Justice in this world.
I hope that's not the end of it. Because that sounds like a businessman using political connections to shakedown someone over a business dispute. The level of willful disregard for basic investigative procedure also points to the fact that if the media hadn't picked up on this case, it would have gone forward. It was never about the truth, it was about punishing the enemy of a "friend".
After following your prior videos on the batman car, it was worth watching to see your bring-it-home summation. A note: The construction contract is better described today as a long-term contract on which periodic payments are required to complete a single deliverable. Common in commercial construction, or software development, or in this case a batmobile, periodic payments at agreed benchmarks keep the progress rolling to completion.
But the issue here is that the provider benchmarks were meaningless; as he would change the vehicles at will. A customer vehicle could be at 80% on Monday, and at 40% on Tuesday, yet the provider was asking (and accepting) money because the car production had reached a certain benchmark. Certainly a troubling business practice (the report describes it as 'bizantine'), unless it is not very carefully specified in the contract. So I understand the police and DAs thinking that it was worth researching it: - Your car is at 80%, give me money! - Here is the money, which one is my car? - Any of these could be (points to a lot of cars, all of them are well under 80% completion) - None of those is complete enough, where is MY car? - Well, you lost your turn and I sold the one I had for you to X (it turns out X has not received the car, either) I mean, there are issues on the sheriff part (the whole civil/criminal issue debate, the fact that the buyer had a more direct access to the sheriff) but I am not a big fan of the builder, either.
The Judge completely failed to address freezing funds that they should have had no authority to freeze because it vastly exceeded the funds in dispute. She also failed to make mention of the fact that it gives the appearance that they intentionally put this guy out of business. RE: Jim Rockford. Not Jim Rockford, more Angel Martin.
One thing that pisses me off is Indiana giving up one of thier own citizen over a civil matter and allowing another state to come in to search and arrest Mark Racop.
And who authorized the bank to freeze his account? Not to mention did he then have the money to pay his employees and his employees to be able to pay their bills that month while his account was frozen? And what other hardships did the idiot that froze his account cause. And did they find out why his entire account was frozen. And who authorizes the freezing of ones account? Is a judge involved in that? So many questions.......
The buyer refused to pay his due on schedule as required in the contract. Nor was he responding to emails. At that point he was moved down the list. When he finally answered and sent his money, the builder refused to move him back up the list. That is when he got all pissy. As I understand, he still hasn't paid the total amount owed on the car, only the stage amount.
But not impatient enough to pay on time. He paid late, only when he lost his production allocation slot due to non-payment then tried to Karen it back, then escalated far past that when he didn't get his way.
Not only that but the buyer was told already it was a civil matter by the police and specifically it was a civil matter for a court in Indiana by a California court.
Thanks for the report Steve, I have been curious in how this case had been resolved. I live in Indiana and it alarmed me how the authorities in Logansport and Cass county Indiana handled this incident. It seems as though professional courtesy superceded Constitutional obligations to a citizen. They failed to verify the facts, before they abandoned a person that they were obligated to protect.
What might be the most frightening aspect to this case is that the investigator, who apparently is pretty senior since he's now heading three task forces, just made an assumption (that the car was stolen) and never did any due diligence to verify that. Then the rest of the legal machinery just accepted his word at face value without any checks or balances to the point where a man was arrested and his bank account was frozen for how long? Over a year? This is just one more example of _why_ we need to hold police officers to higher standards, not cut them slack. When they screw up, they harm people, and the person who is harmed is almost never made whole.
You are giving the investigator the benefit of the doubt here. An understanding of the usual procedure suggests that there would have been at least an informal investigation, and an understanding of why the situation wasn't pursued by the police or local court. It seems likely that they went ahead with the case as a personal favor because strong-arm tactics usually work, regardless of the legality of the situation.
@@1djbecker Yeah, first step of an actual investigation would have been seeing what has already been attempted to rectify the issue. Skipping straight to making up affidavits and trying to act like you have grounds to search things is a blatant violation of due process.
More likely: Head of three different task forces, which generally means at least a decade of experience to get one, deftly utilizes the local criminal court system, but incompetently fails to investigate anything, openly discusses an undercover sting, etc. Or! Experienced cop does favor for megadonor pal of his boss to execute megadonor's desire to harass someone he's mad at over not getting preferential treatment from a business owner who dares not know who he is.
This whole case is a disgusting abuse of power on all accounts. What's even more sad is how complacent the American people are, and their refusal to stand up against this tyranny.
@@alanmcentee9457 These people were never punished, never removed, were never stopped, and they WILL do this again to other people. Just standing on a box saying "You're a Bad Man!" and waving your finger, is NOT "Standing up against Tyranny". No, standing up would be REMOVING all these people from their jobs, BANNING them from getting those jobs anywhere else, and if need be ARRESTING and putting TREASON Charges against them for daring to attack the General Public, who they serve, protect. Of, By, FOR the PEOPLE. Not THE GOVERNMENT.
@@Jirodyne I agree with you except for the treason part. Treason has a pretty narrow constitutional definition which this does not fit. However, there are surely plenty of other criminal charges under which the public officials involved in this could be prosecuted. But I will be very surprised if this actually happens.
Of course Leishman should be fired, he’s clearly too incompetent to do the job. There should be criminal charges against the sheriff’s office. The Batmobile guy should sue heavily.
I think Leishman decided it was better to look incompetent than criminal. My guess is that what really happened is the sheriff told Leishman to nail the batmobile builder any way he could, then the sheriff threw Leishman under the bus when the SHTF.
Thanks Steve. This case has features only Shakespeare could sort out ie. "Comedy of Errors" or perhaps Poe, "Comedy of Terrors." Great breakdown of a screwed up mess, and good evidence of what happens when the fellow who boasts "I know the Sheriff, and we will get even with your!" gets his wish. Glad it is getting sorted out.
I watched a local news story about this on UA-cam, and UA-cam saw 'batmobile' in your original story and suggested it to me which is what prompted me to start watching this channel !
San Mateo is corrupt like most the Bay Area. These people can have it all but as soon as they don’t have to money to tell you what to do the world is over 👹
The actions of so many LEOs and the leadership of departments fit the definition of a Gang and should be treated as such by the citizens of our nation. Granted there are a few who try and do good, but become corrupted, pushed out or they seem to have an accident and die somehow
It's not really a weird thing. Using legitimate courts/legal systems to intimidate or attack opposing businesses/people is a hard tradition in the US. Just look at how much lobbying directly affects legal outcomes, pretending the legal system isn't regularly abused and favors wealthier parties was silly 10+ years ago let alone now. Or just look at the failure of DMCA/digital rights and how much it hurts the customer to favor a smidgen of profit for companies, should be well aware of that being a content creator.
This, exactly. Just think back, for one example, to how Billy the Kid became an outlaw: a sheriff acting on behalf of one business interest murdered Billy’s boss who was a business competitor.
That's because courts and legal systems are run by people. ordinary, every day people just with some extra or specialized training. Chaos and competition are unavoidable when human beings are involved.
@@dstarfire42 That doesn't mean people shouldn't be held accountable for their actions. Abuse of power is unjust and should not be tolerated in this country. Hold those responsible accountable for their actions. It's what happens to regular citizens every day.
Thank you Steve, have been following your relating this debacle from the beginning and I welcome the conclusion. As you showed it never should have happened. Abuse of power to benefit rich friends of public officials is an ongoing problem.
This is great work Steve! Thank so much for presenting this. It is hard to believe this type of activity from government officials could happen these day. Thank for the series. Barry :-)
Thank you for the update. The Batmobile guy does not seem like the kind of person who wants to sue people, but I find myself wishing that you had addressed who he could sue over this and what the likely outcome would be.
He could be an adherent of a religion that discourages law suits, as the Mennonites do. He has a Germanic name that shows up only in small numbers in Pennsylvania and Indiana, so maybe that's the reason.
Not really. The Batmobile builder just deducts his costs from the buyer's deposit. Now the buyer can make a lawsuit in Indiana if he wants to. Then he can sit for depositions and explain why he wasn't answering his emails from the builder. He may not have caused all the problems, but it was his insistent pressing the issue that kept it going.
@@sittingindetroit9204 Yeah I don't think you can get qualified immunity for operating outside the state in which you are a police officer, and qualified immunity doesn't protect police from everything. Just ask the mother of two who got a seven and a half million civil rights violation lawsuit win
@@sittingindetroit9204 use to be back in the 1990's when i lived in CA the first law in the CA penal code stated you can not break the law to enforce the law! don't know if they the state repealed it
I have been following this story (on your channel) with interest, as I am a resident of San Francisco city and county-adjacent to San Mateo county. I hope there are further investigations into the actions of the San Mateo Sheriff’s office deputies who traveled to Indiana. Thank you for explaining this case so clearly.
I was born in Walnut creek California, so do not take my comment as unhinged hate for cali. Do you expect them to do anything? I would be shocked if they did anything to anyone.
Thank you for a great follow up to the story! I was dreading the 45 minute video but surprisingly, it flew by and I watched the whole thing. Well done, sir!
Thank you for your thorough update Steve. If the investigators had been as thorough a man's business and livelihood would not have been damaged. In addition the poor guy suffered mentally and physically as well.
It's a moral issue already in my mind that we live in a society that Allows this to happen. This was no accident , no oopsie. This was a mean spirited rich buyer. Period.
26:44 "Why did he think those things?" Because he was operating under wrong information given him by the buyer. And the four deputies that went to Indiana were doing it as a favor for their boss's friend. I wouldn't say that the evidence is exactly damning (considering how many people have covered it up), but it's a reasonable conclusion to reach in any event.
Steve, now that you said "this puts an end to this", I bet in several months there is going to be another update to the batmobile case on your channel! The universe loves those kinds of challenges!
...and that would be the tip of the iceberg. A six month investigation? Is that more in taxpayer dollars than the price tag on a replica Batmobile? How much is a lawsuit against the Sheriff and the DA gonna run?
All four of these officers should be given the opportunity to Pay Back the cost of their portion of the trip in this case. There is NO WAY they all don't know that they were out of their jurisdiction as soon as they left their county !!
Police can travel across state lines and retain jurisdiction sometimes, granted that's either following a active criminal in pursuit, or deputization by the local sheriff.... Clearly not relevant here, but if the cops had some belief from their superiors in communication with local law enforcementhad Got authority to be deputized for the jurisdiction, the individual officers could have been acting in good faith, the department as a hole no... But there is a hypothetical here where they are in the right as far as they know and as such are immune from direct consequences (excluding the superior)
@@jaykoerner but why four deputies...I had LEO family members who would fly cross country to bring violent felons back to our state for prosecution or jail. They usually went alone but biggest case, they would be two.
The problem I see is how often these coos spent other peoples money on their stupidity. I imagine they do that all the time to think this was a good idea
Hi Steve, I hope you give us a follow-up report on any the civil law suit concerning this event. I can't imagine the "Batmobile" manufacturer letting this go.
Sounds like a long winded excuse by those involved for doing something they knew they should not have done. The way our law enforcement system works is that if you do not have a certain level of clout they pretty much refuse service, yet if they can get something from you they will wait hours at the side of the road in hopes of giving you a traffic ticket. Law enforcement need enforce the laws and keep the peace only. Where money is involved corruption follows. There needs to be clear punishment for those requesting and those doing anything outside of this intended purpose. Great vids and content :)
To be fair the seller maker of Batmobile likely has bad communication skills, bad written contracts, and maybe is jerk. I know some genius people who have no common sense. If you seem like crook that's a dumb way to be. Compare to having clear communication and clear contracts. If 10% of people refuse to be clear then they risk arrest. Just saying cops should be geniuses and detect if someone is just ahole or criminal is a hi demand of govt employees. I was govt employee. Humans are lazy dumb morons. So no the cops will never all act genius. . . .... The other tool is buyers investigate before sending money. It's not healthy for peolle to think they can send money with no investigation and then police will help undo their dumbness.. . . I'm not saying cops did great, saying they'll always be this way humans suck, and if you're a businessperson who let's confusion be how you operate you deserve to be arrested occasionally. Cops probably arrest 99% criminals, 1% innocent aholes, it's never gonna get better than that, US policing is better than past or say Italy or France, it'll never be better humans suck.... With tech now post2000 we could all just record every minute of discussion so defend ourselves, but we all are lazy so choose to risk 1 in 10000 chance a dumb cop will see us as worse than we are.... I'm just spitballing, but y'all are overestimating how humans will do good jobs. My doctor messes up, cops mess up, my contractor on house messed up, cops mess up, humans suck, to then demand cops be good is unlikely... My lord 1800s policing was awful, but now we expect good policing, so skip contracts or clearness..... Imagine sending money to a Chinese company and things go bad then daring to say I'm a smart man who investigated, no you're a lazy buyer who caused a mess .. yet with 2 americans we blame the police only .... . Or I'm wrong just throwing out ideas....
I'm new to the channel and am reviewing the plethora of videos in the library. Not only am I shocked by the amount of vids being produced and the ability of conclusion videos where an update and/or resolution has taken place. I've un-followed so many channels for setting up and detailing the issue, however they never provide a conclusion, which is frustrating. Thank you for everything you have done and are doing. I'm learning so much
Paul welcome to the channel. The fact he is an attorney with his own network helps plus I suspect he subscribes to a service like lexis nexus or law search service that provide updates to all cases. I'd love to know what services he uses, I signed up for a test on one myself.
Steve, You are correct in that this is an important video regarding this Batmobile case. I also agree this retired judge should have been a lot more stern in the report. I wish every one would have been ordered to participate and under oath. I am glad that things should be getting much more normal for the man in Indiana. The man did not deserve the treatment he got.
This is one of your best vids by far. Well worth listening for 45 minutes. I would love to find out if a civil case by the car “builder” is in process. If I was his attorney I would start at a million dollars compensatory damages!
Steve, I hope one day you reconsider being a judge if given the opportunity. I know you’ve said many times you aren’t interested in that, but you really would make a good one.
I am so glad you followed up on this. The story disappeared from media a while ago and I would not have known without seeing your video. And I do love your videos. I feel I learn a little bit each time.
I'd look at not only what the cops and DA did, but also what they weren't doing to do this. What crimes aren't being investigated or prosecuted so that a civil case in Indiana can move forward with the sheriff's office being the heavies for a rich local businessman?
In an interview or one of your previous videos concerning this, I resell the builder said he tried for a few months to get a payment. Unable to contact the buyer, he moved him back in the que.
Very thorough report, although spending a little more time explaining the "bizarre" business practices would have lifted the fog somewhat. The deal Racop has with DC Comics is that each replica has to be identical in appearance, size, wheelbase and every other physical dimension with the Original. The problem is that since the BatMobile first came out in about 1966, the car chassis that still have frames and would otherwise fit the requirements for the original frames with rear wheel drive are hard to find, since the trend is toward smaller vehicles. The smart move, if he could have afforded it, would gave been to buy 30 or 40 older Lincoln Town Cars, knowing that the engines and transmissions would likely have to be freshened. The main problem now is that you can't do the hand work required to build the BatMobiles and have them work perfectly for the prices he quoted. Racop's brother is a lawyer, if I remember correctly, but whoever his lawyer is, he should have drafted a better contract that more fully explains the construction process, and added costs likely as inflation hits us, and how the "list" works. Love to see your friend, Jay Leno, very quietly take his team out there to help the guy tweak his business practices, revise his contracts (sole jurisdiction in his home county) and figure out a way to have an assured supply of the best vehicles for converting into BatMobiles. I wonder if old hearses could be converted for that purpose - they're all low mileage and lightly used.
So someone appears to have buyers remorse and wants to get money off, so he went to a friend of the sheriff to try and abuse the person building the car. The main reason it didn't work is because it made national attention in large part because of your channel. Thanks for what you do.
So wait, the Sherif was LEGALLY allowed to make up an Affidavid, to go FISHING through an American Citizen's Email, without just cause, to see if there is any criminal Activity? What the Fuck?!
I hope the courts will order all records of the arrest expunged from all databases. I also think the sheriff's office should be sued for all expenses and losses in this case, along with a formal apology posted as a nationwide media release, especially directed towards the local media in both jurisdictions.
Doesn't the fact that the DA wasn't informed about this case by his subordinates and after he was informed about it and investigated the case he immediately dismissed it as not being a criminal case tell you that this was a wrongful procedure? The other thing suggesting wrongful procedure is the fact that after the case was dismissed before, the buyer then contacted his friend the sheriff directly and ask him to "handle" this case. The third thing that suggests wrongful procedure is that the investigator worked on an assumption that he sought evidence for to support. And lo and behold, with some fancy paperwork and even fancier tweaking the facts to support his assumption, he managed to produce the evidence he was looking for. This is a well-known procedural mistake that has been made by investigators for many decades. It's called tweaking the investigation and/or the evidence to support the conclusion you've made upfront. The investigator starts a case believing he/she already "knows" what has happened, dismisses evidence that contradicts that "knowledge" and either enhances circumstantial evidence to support this "knowledge" or even fabricates evidence to "prove" his/her "knowledge" was right from the start.
Steve there was a bit there while you discussed an independent review of the whole thing. I do not often see you emotional but your foot was tapping pretty hard through it. Nice to see, love your show even if it is US law. As a Canadian I am always amazed at the American Judicial System.
Thank you Steve. I was hoping you'd do a long vid when this concluded. I'm actually glad the investigating former judge did nothing but present the facts. It's objective. And most importantly is means no one can say they felt forced to testify against themselves by the government due to their employment status as even public servants have rights.
Steve, thank you for shedding light on this. Yes, the video was long, as it deserved to be. I have read many of the comments pre my post and I agree with most of them, to the point that I too would like to see some of these people fired, given unpaid leave and or charged accordingly. There is no room for favouritism in the legal arena. Time to put an end to it not only in the USA but also here in Canada.
Why did they need 4 cops to pick up this guy? One or 2 should have more than enough. This builder, Racop, seems like an honest guy and the only one authorized to build this Batmobile which, to me, means that it would be almost impossible for him to defraud anybody. All eyes are on him and he's made a bunch of these cars already.
Still seems like a few people need to be disbarred.. and a few cops need restraining orders to prevent FURTHER retribution while you pursue their police certifications and surety bond
I've been aching to hear an update on this story. I've watched several videos on this guy and his business and then this incident. I'm glad he can go back to making the cars thst every man who at heart is he's they were Batman with the means to commission to have one of these made and erode around living the dream.
I had a similar experience with the Franklin County Sheriff’s office in Pasco, WA. I filed a complaint with the sheriff’s office regarding perjury and a lawyer. The county prosecutor advised me to file the complaint w the the sheriff’s office and they would take over after they received the complaint from the sheriff’s office. Sheriff’s office would not accept the complaint and all further requests were ignored.
I love this. I love that you just keep going. I watched every second of it. If folks don't want to watch a 45 min video on Batmobile litigation, they can go somewhere else.
You know what Steve? At this point.. watching your videos and those of various 1st A auditors and copwatchers I come away from them AMAZED if the cops haven't shot and killed someone. A truly sad statement!
Sounds like the Batmobile car builder has a great civil case against the DA's office, Sheriff's Office and the buy. The DA's office should have ordered his DDA to cooperate in the investigation. She should screwed up big time and not talking to helping in the investigation was BS on her part big time. It also shows the DA in California must be pretty lame as a leader. Great video Steve and I for one am glad of the out come.
I'm glad this wasn't just swept under the rug and considered closed with the old Sheriff having left. Of course, it remains to be seen if there are any actual consequences for those people involved in this. 12:38 This reminds me of the proverb "When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail." The investigating officer was the head of the vehicle theft task force. Presumably, he had dealt with a lot of vehicle theft cases in his career. As a result, he automatically interpreted the facts in a way that would support-or at least infer-the theft of a vehicle.
My best speculation here is it was *suggested* by the private investigator that the other buyer had received the disputed vehicle, and that he thought it would be advantageous to avoid giving advance notice to the builder (via the other buyer) by contacting the buyer to verify the claim. Since this is such an essential detail to the alleged crime, it just seems like negligence to try to "just hope that's true" before diving into such actions. His frequent voluntary updating of the sheriff on the progress of the investigation also gives the appearance of the extension of a favor, originating from the buyer. Like "A friend asked if we could look into this, I want you to take another look at it and see if you can dig up anything that can restart this case, keep me in the loop." It's a shame that the investigating judge didn't dig a little deeper on this. I suppose it would be fruitless though to try to ask the PI if he wanted to be interviewed, as he would very likely respond by saying he would only agree if his client was okay with it. (and seeing as his client didn't want to be interviewed, that's probably not going to happen) "I don't remember the details of the conversation" is certainly dubious, but at least the sheriff did agree to the interview and provided useful information. But yeah, asking the two people about a conversation and one of them says "I don't remember" and the other saying "I'm not going to answer any of your questions" is certainly suspicious behavior. Now we're not allowed to CONCLUDE it was shady, but it certainly has the smell. LASTLY, I think there needs to be more emphasis on this being a case of FRAUD being referred to a department that investigates THEFT. It gives me the impression that the sheriff thought something along the lines of "this isn't REALLY a theft case, but the DA already determined that there was no fraud either, so the only way this is going to get any traction is if we pursue it as a THEFT." And that's just wrong, that's perverting the judicial system to try to force it to operate in a way it was't designed to, in order to get a different outcome than it ordinarily would if used correctly. Like you're trying to twist in a stubborn screw with your screwdriver and it just won't go in, so you get out a hammer. "That screw just won't go in, but Bob says it should, so I'm just gonna pull out a hammer", instead of asking yourself if Bob really understands why that screw won't turn, because maybe there's a good reason it won't go in!
When you're a hammer everything looks like a nail. Lashman is used to dealing with drug dealers and thieves. Unfortunately for him this is a solid business man who's been in business for a very long time and is also a preacher. I watched the interviews with him and he seemed more hurt than angry that this had been done to him. It called his personal honor into question by dishonorable power hogs. The reason DC comics gave him the contract to build replica Batmobiles was because he WAS an honorable man. Adam Wests Batman was the inspiration for him getting started in this business. Did Bobo the clown ever get his car?
I'm sick of criminal activity by govt officials described as "screwups", "mistakes", "bad judgement." Civilians NEVER get that benefit by the very same officials.
That’s why qualified immunity needs to be abolished now.
And when we get reviewed a finger is almost always pointed. The evidence is that the investigating officer was trying to do the complaint at a favor. The regular updates (even though supposedly not requested) reek. The reliance on the complainant’s investigator reeks. Further, in my life I have been told by three LE departments and a prosecutor the same thing about civil action pretty much removes the situation from criminal court.
So you’re claiming that they used good judgement?
--
No, I’m not excusing them.
Bad morals would suffice to explain, and bad morals are not a thing you want from anyone in ANY position of power.
@@Relkond Who are you directing that question to?
@@mattrondeau7466 I think Eric is in CA,, many of them are confused...
Everyone who prosecuted that man needs to be prosecuted for false arrest.
freezing bank accounts also issue, i think he can sue the depart for that as well
Was he actually arrested?
@Kenny Phillips yes, he was booked at an Indiana jail but due to heart problems wasn't extradited to California but was told that he would be charged and be available to travel to California
Werefrog of Assyria, how is this a false arrest? the car was supposed to be completed in a year. 22:50 from 2017 to 2023 is how many years? also, the final payment from the buyer was for a completed car. when cops went to that shop, there were no completed cars there
@Gavno Nadoroge because the guy failed to pay for the car and thus got put at the bottom of the line. Are you stupid? He paid a deposit to get on the list, he didn't lay the complete amount when it was due.
I think the buyer should be charged with filing a false police report, reporting a crime that didn't happen.
I tell tell buyer you just forfeited your purchase and any money put down on the car..
Sadly this is the nature of an unfettered capitalist society. If you have money you are above the law and or can make up laws to favor you.
When people say the US is the best country in the world , I point to things like this . This should make normal citizens sick.
He filed two false police reports.
Officer so many Times making false statement and dangers of making false statement
Honestly, sounds like false reporting and lack of due diligence in verifying the complaint.
The thing that absolutely killed me about this is that the sheriff obviously doing a favor for his friend was able to lock this guy's liquidity up for month. I own a small business and that could possibly kill me. And it was all up to this point considered legal. That is not how America is supposed to work. This is exactly what corruption looks like.
did he sue for damages/losses?
This was the part of the story that bugged me also because I don’t think a sheriff could do that by themselves they would have to have a judge do it. How did this get past the judge? You would have to have been a judge in Indiana I would guess unless the man’s bank is in California.
This is how it works if you're a wealthy person in the US. You are self entitled and law enforcement kisses your a$$.
@@dpcrnJudge attends the same country club - that is how it got past the judge.
This issue and others like it need the root problems addressed and funded . oversight ethics and accountability.
Amnesia seems to run rampant in the law enforcement community when they are called to account for their activities. "I don't recall" "I can't remember" is their mantra.
Its called Omerta; they learned it from the Mafia
That, and the ability to LIE under oath, are part of their 'training'.
That’s what the lawyers from the department and the union told them to say whenever they get handed a difficult question.
You can’t lie.
You can’t refuse to answer (unless you’re pleading the fifth).
So what can you do?
Well, legally they can’t try to force you to answer a question if you say you don’t remember what the answer is, so abuse tf outta the good ‘ole “I don’t recall” card if the answer would land you or the department in legal hotwater! 👌
You have to remember where they are from.
I used to live in Iowa, a state that allows cops to read prepared statements and police reports during examinations, and answer no other questions, after one too many cops couldn't keep their stories straight on the stand. The court is perfectly find with the police reading what they wrote at the time, and not answering any other questions posed by counsel, that aren't covered in their statements. Iowa's judges are basically telling its citizens, "the police lie so much that we needed to help them keep their lies straight."
Anyone who gave the green light on this should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. False reporting, kidnapping, extortion, illegal use of funds, just about every line was crossed, they should all be spending years in jail for this
Qualified Immunity.
@@JonBrounyeah :(
If I was the car builder I would return payments that had been made and refuse tovbuild the buyer a car.
@@tonytrott6318 car "contractor"
@@JonBroun Qualified immunity is for civil cases. It does not apply to criminal.
It's also the most blatant "judicial activism" the court has seen, writing law from the bench.
One of the most disturbing aspects of this case is learning that Keystone Kops can freeze bank accounts. That power used to require due process and a court order.
We should all be glad tho that these cops didn't refer those funds to their Civil Asset Forfeiture friends.
There was a court order issued by a Kangaroo Kort.
Go crypto.
I think the buyer's pet assistant DA is the one that actually did the freezing. Which is probably why she didn't speak to the investigator.
😂
Steve, I think this Batmobile guy must have suffered financially and much mental anguish as a result of this sheriff's unlawful false arrest. Surely he can find an attorney to sue those bastards in California for triple damages, pain and suffering, and attorney's costs?
He can file in Indiana. He may also just add his costs to the price of the car. The buyer can then either pay the extra or forget his deposit.
I may be wrong, but I think the institute for justice is on his case
@Schmidty the Kid we don't have a Justice system only a legal system
@@JohnS-il1dr that comment has layers
@@JohnS-il1dr We do have one. It's just that you spelled it wrong. It is the Just Us system.
We had a client who complained his neighbor pulled up his survey stakes. We had the county sheriff (big cheese himself) respond to letters saying he needs to enforce the law by playing dumb and acting like it’s some complicated civil manner over his head and our client should sue if he thinks he has a land dispute. He hand waved whether it’s a crime to intentionally interfere with land survey monuments. No exaggeration. Acted like he never heard of that before.
Took 3 letters strait up telling him it’s against the law and he needs to enforce the law before he admitted he needs to act if it happens again. (I think 3rd or 4th time destroying survey stakes).
He had no trouble figuring out just about everything the neighbor ever complained about our client was a potential criminal matter for the Sheriff. The neighbor literally called deputies on their personal cellphones to complain that our client said mean things to them As they pulled survey stakes out. Warned our client swearing could become disorderly conduct.
If you know the sheriff you can get the sherif help right in the middle of commiting an obvious crime. Feigned Incompetence as a defense seems t be a common strategy used by public servants. Not my fault, I’m incompetent, how could my dumb ass ever imagine…..
It’s scary and disgraceful to see the law be permitted to get twisted into whatever personal agendas one has, whether it’d be to sit on your ass all day or invent an excuse to retaliate against someone you have personal beef with, so long as the accusers offer “the correct” statements to get the results they want.
Don’t like the political candidate a civilian is supporting with a sign on their front lawn? Wait outside their home until the civilian is physically present, arrest the civilian on the spot, then write an affidavit claiming the civilian was “threatening”, “combative”, “aggressive”, and “belligerent” as a way to obfuscate the _real_ reason why you arrested them and brought them before the judge. Then the judge would be inclined to go along with “the official” narrative and sentence the accused to jail for “threatening” an officer.
Sounds like The Institute For Justice needs to do a counter-lawsuit against them, to punish everyone involved with that man's false reporting, kidnapping, and extortion, as well as in the illegal use of funds and what other illegalities were done, and get paid for the damages, including image damages caused by having it's business halted and slowed down by everything that happened, including having to appear in court.
Qualified immunity…… gives government licenses to knowingly break laws and suspend rights…..
@@thomasmyers9128 While it could be argued that is how it is interpreted, that is not the purpose of Qualified Immunity. Qualified Immunity applies to mistakes, not knowingly breaking the law.
@@concernedcitizen1874 … totally agree…. Same with forfeit laws… it’s for drug dealers organized crime… anyone making money illegally…. I can’t count how many abuses
Not little things like someone’s vehicle (5k to 75k)…. But cash… 150 to 200k(smaller amounts too the blue crooks aren’t picky)
… and up…. 2 that come to mind… 1 was a 20 year vet… sold his house…,didn’t trust banks .. could easily prove, which he shouldn’t have too, didn’t matter, they wanted to play let’s make a deal… or you can sue us…. The other was a man (Indian) going to buy a little store… he owed several stores..
Zero criminal history…. Same “ let’s make a deal”…. Both were 6 figure sums…
Never fails give them common sense uses of something and they abuse it …. and use it the way never intended…
Qualified immunity was for accidental things
As soon as they got court approval… they’ll knowingly stomp on peoples rights… I’ve seen many videos where they brag about it.
That isn’t what it was meant for…. So time for it to go…. Good Samaritan Laws covers enough …. If your in L.E. You should know the constitution…. Bill of rights…. And main court cases about searching, seizures, stopping, detaining etc… it’s only your job… and how do you take an oath… if you don’t know…
It’s that important of a job…. Act like it…
@@concernedcitizen1874 That's not how it's used, and it's quite clear, Steve has covered numerous such cases.
@@thomasmyers9128 Thankfully there are 4 states that outlawd asset forfeiture and the Supreme Court will be having hearings on it laer this year.
They call it "screwups", I call it straight-up corruption. For the cost of the trip the California officers made out there, I'd also call it fraud, waste, and abuse.
Also a civil rights violation, maybe multiple violations.
Yup...
They froze his bank account, how did that happen and who authorized that. Wow.
Have to make sure he can't pay his lawyer.
It's actually quite easy to do, all it takes is a warrant and banks have to comply immediately by federal law.
Just borrow a judges rubber stamp.
Corrupt Justice Dept & fellows involved ...seems born corrupt not fulfilling their Job Description
@@sittingindetroit9204 You mean call Rent-A -Judge.
I like how most people interviewed can recall extensive details about every point of this case except when it is time to recall something that may be embarrassing to them.
That’s is what is known in the business as lying.
They knew from the onset that they were wrong.
@@schmidtythekidd to paraphrase the movie Clear and Present Danger, "I have no recollection on that matter, Senator."
@@jame3shook depends what the definition of is, is
Imagine if the police put that much time, effort and money into investigating rape or murder.
That would require them to risk engaging dangerous criminals.
Especially crimes committed by politicians
I’m a retired Prosecutor and Judge and I can tell you why the head Prosecutor didn’t tell his assistants to cooperate. He didn’t want the truth to be told as it would make him either look complicit or incompetent.
But in the end, they still look complicit and incompetent.
But not in any way that sticks to them @@kg4gav
Either way they look bad
Exactly!
Even if there was fraud, the california sherriff had no business taking a california team out of state. His advice to his donor should have simply been to contact the police local to the business that he is accusing of the fraud or perhaps, the FBI.
California sheriff should have tossed in a cell.
California has a track record of overreaching on all kinds of fronts.
They have even went so far as to try and tax people that have moved out years earlier!
It's a moral hazard, as usual, if those involved are not held accountable.
California, by virtue of them being better than the rest of us hick states, has jurisdiction over most of the globe.😊
I don't understand why the California deputies arrested him. They were out of their jurisdiction and the local police did not have probable cause. Nor did they have a California warrant. The Logansport Police would be setting themselves up for a wrongful arrest if they arrested him.
I just hope the Indiana builder deducts his costs from the buyer's deposit.
What bugs me the most.........the only reason this became national news was because it was "the Bat mobile." This made it news worthy to be covered by the local news, that later got the full attention of the public. I suspect stuff like this is more common than we care to think, but only an oddity brought it to public view.
Quite common
And not just quite common, but historied. There is a reason why there is a cliche of the crooked sheriff siding with the murderous cattle baron.
There is even a famous incident of a rich untouchable monster being shot by half the town, but there being not a single witness, all because the cops couldn't do a thing to him.
If this case didn’t have “Batmobile” or some other comic book reference, I would have clicked on another video and LOL’ed at whoever this guy is.
I think it became national news because of Steve Lehto.
It happens all the time, but since most are not the batmobile, "small businesses" & not wealthy clients, no one hears about em.
Another issue that concerns me is the lack of scrutiny that the court in Indiana placed in issuing a warrant to an outside agency. The judge on that warrant should drawn red flags from the probable cause affidavit. If it was falsified, those officers should be charged in Indiana. At the very least, they should be sued personally.
It's not really the judge's fault. The search warrant was to find evidence of specific crimes. The judge wasn't to know that the evidence didn't exist.
What red flags? The judge was presented the case by the sheriff’s department which at the time alleged a fully assembled car had been given to one person over another. The judge does not have the defendant's story. The judge does not have the full case. Some sheriffs from California with warrants from California want to get warrants in Indiana. Other than a cursory check that the sheriffs were actually sheriffs on a case, the judge does not need to know any more.
@@minhduong1484 The judge should look at the testimony (affidavit) from whomever that applied for the warrant. If the story laid out, or the person's credibility isn't up to par, the warrant request should be rejected. They can hold hearings and demand more evidence or many other things.
Sadly, most warrants simply get a glance over and are signed off regardless; the judge expects the (future) defense attorneys to find any issues.
There's no consequences for judges that don't do their job. No accountability anywhere in the judicial system.
Two of you do not understand how the legal system works. One of the main tasks of the judicial branch of government is to scrutinize the actions of the executive branch. When a police officer applies for a warrant (search or arrest), they file an affidavit of probable cause. In that affidavit, the filing officer has to lay out what their pc for search or arrest is. It is a signed and sworn affidavit. I have submitted literally thousands in my career. One of the first things any reputable judge will do is ask several questions of the affiant as to how they arrived at this point- ESPECIALLY if it is an agency that has no jurisdiction in that area. In this case, the statement that was sworn contained false affirmations. In other words, they lied. (This can be further evidenced by the fact they doubled down on the car builder and threatened to arrest him and did not allow him to consult his attorney while they were searching his property) After there was return of service on that warrant and the facts came to light, the agency with jurisdiction in Indiana should have investigated those deputies. Understand that when they left their jurisdiction, they became ordinary citizens- warrants or not. They had no power to execute a search without the commissioning authority in Indiana. So, again I say, that should have waved huge red flags to that judge. And we see the truth here- some rich douchebag got upset because he didn't make his payment on time and got sent to the back of the line. He tried to get the city police in his hometown to press charges. They declined, along with the DA initially. Then he tried to file a suit and the case was dismissed. He threw a tantrum and went and got the sheriff, whom he had deposited money into his coffers, to go after the car builder. The sheriff, being the politician he is, obliged his donor and sent his goons to make this man's life hell. The judge that signed the warrant has power and responsibility to scrutinize affidavits brought to him/her before and after warrants are signed.
And I see the last comment before my reply. You are exactly right- most judges don't waste time with reading the affidavit. But, it is their responsibility. I can understand in cases where the judge has a rapport with the officer. I've gotten numerous phone warrants that way. However, that was after years of reputation building and solid testimony in their court.
Steve, if I recall correctly the "buyer" didn't respond for a long time for the $20,000 payment requested, which is why he lost the place in the queue. When he did finally responded, he paid everything left and was expecting to still be in the same place in the queue. I really think it should mentioned how long that period of time was.
I appreciate how Steve makes these cases understandable for everyone
who's Steve?
Actually hope this is not the end of the story, hoping for police corruption charges, a law suit to make the builder whole again and for one particular individual to Not get his Batmobile Ever!
No "evidence" of police corruption, government is not liable for incompetence......if the victim gets anything it will be for convenience of the government hoping it will go away.
@@sittingindetroit9204 Well, Leishman did a decent job of making a case that he was an idiot rather than a crook (under the direction of a crooked sheriff). While this is probably enough to raise reasonable doubt and skate on criminal charges, I think that a civil suit would stand a decent chance. AFIK batmobile guy hasn't filed a suit. I can hardly blame him if he has no faith that the system will help him.
If i was the builder i would cancel the deal ( provided he was smart enough to give the ability to do so inthe contracts ) Return the guy's money and never take business from him again. All those california law officers, prosecutors involved should be fired and banned from law enforcement and /or law practice.
My sweet summer child.
I bet you believe that the US is a democracy as well.
@@ScamallDorcha Never crossed my mind, since I watch it from outside.
And even though I was born in summer, I'm betting I was born long before you, yet Still I believe there is Justice in this world.
Abuse of power, pure and simple. Their only regret is that the obvious abuse was exposed.
I hope that's not the end of it. Because that sounds like a businessman using political connections to shakedown someone over a business dispute. The level of willful disregard for basic investigative procedure also points to the fact that if the media hadn't picked up on this case, it would have gone forward. It was never about the truth, it was about punishing the enemy of a "friend".
"Who you know, not what you know...."
Greed
After following your prior videos on the batman car, it was worth watching to see your bring-it-home summation. A note: The construction contract is better described today as a long-term contract on which periodic payments are required to complete a single deliverable. Common in commercial construction, or software development, or in this case a batmobile, periodic payments at agreed benchmarks keep the progress rolling to completion.
But the issue here is that the provider benchmarks were meaningless; as he would change the vehicles at will. A customer vehicle could be at 80% on Monday, and at 40% on Tuesday, yet the provider was asking (and accepting) money because the car production had reached a certain benchmark.
Certainly a troubling business practice (the report describes it as 'bizantine'), unless it is not very carefully specified in the contract. So I understand the police and DAs thinking that it was worth researching it:
- Your car is at 80%, give me money!
- Here is the money, which one is my car?
- Any of these could be (points to a lot of cars, all of them are well under 80% completion)
- None of those is complete enough, where is MY car?
- Well, you lost your turn and I sold the one I had for you to X (it turns out X has not received the car, either)
I mean, there are issues on the sheriff part (the whole civil/criminal issue debate, the fact that the buyer had a more direct access to the sheriff) but I am not a big fan of the builder, either.
The Judge completely failed to address freezing funds that they should have had no authority to freeze because it vastly exceeded the funds in dispute. She also failed to make mention of the fact that it gives the appearance that they intentionally put this guy out of business.
RE: Jim Rockford. Not Jim Rockford, more Angel Martin.
One thing that pisses me off is Indiana giving up one of thier own citizen over a civil matter and allowing another state to come in to search and arrest Mark Racop.
what you thought governments were fair to its people?
And who authorized the bank to freeze his account? Not to mention did he then have the money to pay his employees and his employees to be able to pay their bills that month while his account was frozen? And what other hardships did the idiot that froze his account cause. And did they find out why his entire account was frozen. And who authorizes the freezing of ones account? Is a judge involved in that? So many questions.......
Birds of a feather and all that.
That man in California was just to impatient for the hand molded replica. He’s really a California A-H. What a Karen.
The buyer refused to pay his due on schedule as required in the contract. Nor was he responding to emails. At that point he was moved down the list. When he finally answered and sent his money, the builder refused to move him back up the list. That is when he got all pissy. As I understand, he still hasn't paid the total amount owed on the car, only the stage amount.
A crucial detail - the buyer refused payment and did not reply to the maker for eight whole months before getting moved down the queue.
But not impatient enough to pay on time. He paid late, only when he lost his production allocation slot due to non-payment then tried to Karen it back, then escalated far past that when he didn't get his way.
Not only that but the buyer was told already it was a civil matter by the police and specifically it was a civil matter for a court in Indiana by a California court.
Thanks for the report Steve, I have been curious in how this case had been resolved. I live in Indiana and it alarmed me how the authorities in Logansport and Cass county Indiana handled this incident. It seems as though professional courtesy superceded Constitutional obligations to a citizen. They failed to verify the facts, before they abandoned a person that they were obligated to protect.
Except they are not obligated to protect him.
Until people in power are held accountable, things like this will continue to happen.
They investigated themselves and found their friends and colleages committed no wrong doing...again...
What might be the most frightening aspect to this case is that the investigator, who apparently is pretty senior since he's now heading three task forces, just made an assumption (that the car was stolen) and never did any due diligence to verify that. Then the rest of the legal machinery just accepted his word at face value without any checks or balances to the point where a man was arrested and his bank account was frozen for how long? Over a year?
This is just one more example of _why_ we need to hold police officers to higher standards, not cut them slack. When they screw up, they harm people, and the person who is harmed is almost never made whole.
You are giving the investigator the benefit of the doubt here.
An understanding of the usual procedure suggests that there would have been at least an informal investigation, and an understanding of why the situation wasn't pursued by the police or local court. It seems likely that they went ahead with the case as a personal favor because strong-arm tactics usually work, regardless of the legality of the situation.
@@1djbecker Yeah, first step of an actual investigation would have been seeing what has already been attempted to rectify the issue. Skipping straight to making up affidavits and trying to act like you have grounds to search things is a blatant violation of due process.
I'd be OK with LEOs and government officials being held to the same standards we are.
More likely: Head of three different task forces, which generally means at least a decade of experience to get one, deftly utilizes the local criminal court system, but incompetently fails to investigate anything, openly discusses an undercover sting, etc.
Or!
Experienced cop does favor for megadonor pal of his boss to execute megadonor's desire to harass someone he's mad at over not getting preferential treatment from a business owner who dares not know who he is.
This whole case is a disgusting abuse of power on all accounts. What's even more sad is how complacent the American people are, and their refusal to stand up against this tyranny.
HINT: They didn't. They asked questions and the news reporters asked harder questions. That is why there was a report.
"Who are you?"
"San Mateo Count Sheriffs"
"And where is that?"
"California"
"GTFO my property :::slams door:::"
@@alanmcentee9457 These people were never punished, never removed, were never stopped, and they WILL do this again to other people. Just standing on a box saying "You're a Bad Man!" and waving your finger, is NOT "Standing up against Tyranny". No, standing up would be REMOVING all these people from their jobs, BANNING them from getting those jobs anywhere else, and if need be ARRESTING and putting TREASON Charges against them for daring to attack the General Public, who they serve, protect. Of, By, FOR the PEOPLE. Not THE GOVERNMENT.
@@TalonPro they were there with a local warrant and the local sheriff department because the interaction was imterjurisdictional.
@@Jirodyne I agree with you except for the treason part. Treason has a pretty narrow constitutional definition which this does not fit. However, there are surely plenty of other criminal charges under which the public officials involved in this could be prosecuted. But I will be very surprised if this actually happens.
Of course Leishman should be fired, he’s clearly too incompetent to do the job.
There should be criminal charges against the sheriff’s office.
The Batmobile guy should sue heavily.
I think Leishman decided it was better to look incompetent than criminal. My guess is that what really happened is the sheriff told Leishman to nail the batmobile builder any way he could, then the sheriff threw Leishman under the bus when the SHTF.
And to think that this guy is now in charge of the county's narcotics task force. Yikes!
@@yankinwaoz
Maybe he was sampling the evidence?
Thanks Steve. This case has features only Shakespeare could sort out ie. "Comedy of Errors" or perhaps Poe, "Comedy of Terrors." Great breakdown of a screwed up mess, and good evidence of what happens when the fellow who boasts "I know the Sheriff, and we will get even with your!" gets his wish. Glad it is getting sorted out.
I watched a local news story about this on UA-cam, and UA-cam saw 'batmobile' in your original story and suggested it to me which is what prompted me to start watching this channel !
Indiana government officials should be livid over this and the actions of their own judges and sheriffs.
I doubt they will be as quick to work with California police from now on.
This was so crazy. Law enforcement is corrupt gangs.
Bingo. Biggest organized crime family on the planet.
San Mateo is corrupt like most the Bay Area. These people can have it all but as soon as they don’t have to money to tell you what to do the world is over 👹
The actions of so many LEOs and the leadership of departments fit the definition of a Gang and should be treated as such by the citizens of our nation.
Granted there are a few who try and do good, but become corrupted, pushed out or they seem to have an accident and die somehow
@@paulharvey1947 don’t forget to add the T word into that!
It's not really a weird thing. Using legitimate courts/legal systems to intimidate or attack opposing businesses/people is a hard tradition in the US. Just look at how much lobbying directly affects legal outcomes, pretending the legal system isn't regularly abused and favors wealthier parties was silly 10+ years ago let alone now. Or just look at the failure of DMCA/digital rights and how much it hurts the customer to favor a smidgen of profit for companies, should be well aware of that being a content creator.
This, exactly. Just think back, for one example, to how Billy the Kid became an outlaw: a sheriff acting on behalf of one business interest murdered Billy’s boss who was a business competitor.
It was silly a 100 years ago. Its amazing how often rich elites used the courts to push their weight around in the 19th century.
That's because courts and legal systems are run by people. ordinary, every day people just with some extra or specialized training. Chaos and competition are unavoidable when human beings are involved.
@@dstarfire42 That doesn't mean people shouldn't be held accountable for their actions. Abuse of power is unjust and should not be tolerated in this country. Hold those responsible accountable for their actions. It's what happens to regular citizens every day.
I am reminded of the musical, "Eat Sh!t, Bob!" by John Oliver.
Thank you Steve, have been following your relating this debacle from the beginning and I welcome the conclusion. As you showed it never should have happened. Abuse of power to benefit rich friends of public officials is an ongoing problem.
This is great work Steve! Thank so much for presenting this. It is hard to believe this type of activity from government officials could happen these day. Thank for the series. Barry :-)
Government corruption,waste and incompetence is a common thing once you take the blinders off.
Thank you for the update. The Batmobile guy does not seem like the kind of person who wants to sue people, but I find myself wishing that you had addressed who he could sue over this and what the likely outcome would be.
He could be an adherent of a religion that discourages law suits, as the Mennonites do. He has a Germanic name that shows up only in small numbers in Pennsylvania and Indiana, so maybe that's the reason.
He would have to sue the buyer and might be able to name the sheriff and head investigator as parties.
@@OmniscientWarrior unfortunately, the ex-sheriff and the deputy would likely get themselves excused by way of qualified immunity.
@@MikeDCWeld they would likely just investigate themselves and find no wrong doing
We need reports such as this nationwide to help return us to legal fairness.
This looks like its a huge federal lawsuit.
Not really. The Batmobile builder just deducts his costs from the buyer's deposit. Now the buyer can make a lawsuit in Indiana if he wants to. Then he can sit for depositions and explain why he wasn't answering his emails from the builder. He may not have caused all the problems, but it was his insistent pressing the issue that kept it going.
Qualified immunity will not allow them to be sued. Government officials cannot be held responsible for incompetence.
@@sittingindetroit9204 Yeah I don't think you can get qualified immunity for operating outside the state in which you are a police officer, and qualified immunity doesn't protect police from everything. Just ask the mother of two who got a seven and a half million civil rights violation lawsuit win
@@sittingindetroit9204 use to be back in the 1990's when i lived in CA the first law in the CA penal code stated you can not break the law to enforce the law! don't know if they the state repealed it
@@aaronself2411 Can you name another case that gave precedence for the actions that these guys did? The mother can.....
I have been following this story (on your channel) with interest, as I am a resident of San Francisco city and county-adjacent to San Mateo county. I hope there are further investigations into the actions of the San Mateo Sheriff’s office deputies who traveled to Indiana. Thank you for explaining this case so clearly.
I was born in Walnut creek California, so do not take my comment as unhinged hate for cali. Do you expect them to do anything? I would be shocked if they did anything to anyone.
@@grbenway true, but it will never happen if people stop trying.
Thank you for a great follow up to the story! I was dreading the 45 minute video but surprisingly, it flew by and I watched the whole thing. Well done, sir!
This was a long video, but well worth watching. Thanks for taking the time to do this one Steve!
He needn't worry about the length. Many U-tubers many longer ones weekly.
Thank you for your thorough update Steve. If the investigators had been as thorough a man's business and livelihood would not have been damaged. In addition the poor guy suffered mentally and physically as well.
It's a moral hazard, as usual, if those involved are not held accountable.
It's a moral issue already in my mind that we live in a society that Allows this to happen. This was no accident , no oopsie. This was a mean spirited rich buyer. Period.
@@davepirtle9790 Soon we will be required to address him as "My Lord" and avert our eyes in his presence.
I hope Marie McLaughlin is recalled and sanctioned by the CA Bar Association for this.
26:44 "Why did he think those things?" Because he was operating under wrong information given him by the buyer. And the four deputies that went to Indiana were doing it as a favor for their boss's friend. I wouldn't say that the evidence is exactly damning (considering how many people have covered it up), but it's a reasonable conclusion to reach in any event.
The owl is using Ben as a pillow.
Steve, now that you said "this puts an end to this", I bet in several months there is going to be another update to the batmobile case on your channel! The universe loves those kinds of challenges!
I wonder if anyone will have to remit the costs for those detectives trips to the county.
...and that would be the tip of the iceberg. A six month investigation? Is that more in taxpayer dollars than the price tag on a replica Batmobile? How much is a lawsuit against the Sheriff and the DA gonna run?
It's scary how someone's "screw up" can end up damaging your life by freezing your bank account.
All four of these officers should be given the opportunity to Pay Back the cost of their portion of the trip in this case. There is NO WAY they all don't know that they were out of their jurisdiction as soon as they left their county !!
"Given the opportunity" meaning if they don't they won't have a job ;)
Police can travel across state lines and retain jurisdiction sometimes, granted that's either following a active criminal in pursuit, or deputization by the local sheriff.... Clearly not relevant here, but if the cops had some belief from their superiors in communication with local law enforcementhad Got authority to be deputized for the jurisdiction, the individual officers could have been acting in good faith, the department as a hole no... But there is a hypothetical here where they are in the right as far as they know and as such are immune from direct consequences (excluding the superior)
@@jaykoerner but why four deputies...I had LEO family members who would fly cross country to bring violent felons back to our state for prosecution or jail. They usually went alone but biggest case, they would be two.
"If I take one more step, this is the furthest I've ever been from the Shire."
Sam Gamgee
The problem I see is how often these coos spent other peoples money on their stupidity. I imagine they do that all the time to think this was a good idea
Hi Steve, I hope you give us a follow-up report on any the civil law suit concerning this event. I can't imagine the "Batmobile" manufacturer letting this go.
Thank you for doing this. I've wondered what the truth was.
Sounds like a long winded excuse by those involved for doing something they knew they should not have done. The way our law enforcement system works is that if you do not have a certain level of clout they pretty much refuse service, yet if they can get something from you they will wait hours at the side of the road in hopes of giving you a traffic ticket. Law enforcement need enforce the laws and keep the peace only. Where money is involved corruption follows. There needs to be clear punishment for those requesting and those doing anything outside of this intended purpose. Great vids and content :)
To be fair the seller maker of Batmobile likely has bad communication skills, bad written contracts, and maybe is jerk. I know some genius people who have no common sense. If you seem like crook that's a dumb way to be. Compare to having clear communication and clear contracts. If 10% of people refuse to be clear then they risk arrest. Just saying cops should be geniuses and detect if someone is just ahole or criminal is a hi demand of govt employees. I was govt employee. Humans are lazy dumb morons. So no the cops will never all act genius. . . .... The other tool is buyers investigate before sending money. It's not healthy for peolle to think they can send money with no investigation and then police will help undo their dumbness.. . . I'm not saying cops did great, saying they'll always be this way humans suck, and if you're a businessperson who let's confusion be how you operate you deserve to be arrested occasionally. Cops probably arrest 99% criminals, 1% innocent aholes, it's never gonna get better than that, US policing is better than past or say Italy or France, it'll never be better humans suck.... With tech now post2000 we could all just record every minute of discussion so defend ourselves, but we all are lazy so choose to risk 1 in 10000 chance a dumb cop will see us as worse than we are.... I'm just spitballing, but y'all are overestimating how humans will do good jobs. My doctor messes up, cops mess up, my contractor on house messed up, cops mess up, humans suck, to then demand cops be good is unlikely... My lord 1800s policing was awful, but now we expect good policing, so skip contracts or clearness..... Imagine sending money to a Chinese company and things go bad then daring to say I'm a smart man who investigated, no you're a lazy buyer who caused a mess .. yet with 2 americans we blame the police only .... . Or I'm wrong just throwing out ideas....
Even shorter way to say complainant:
Man Child
It is also more concise.
Lots of very serious laws were broken, all by police and public officials. They should have their assets frozen and have to pay fines and go to jail.
I'm new to the channel and am reviewing the plethora of videos in the library. Not only am I shocked by the amount of vids being produced and the ability of conclusion videos where an update and/or resolution has taken place.
I've un-followed so many channels for setting up and detailing the issue, however they never provide a conclusion, which is frustrating.
Thank you for everything you have done and are doing. I'm learning so much
Paul welcome to the channel. The fact he is an attorney with his own network helps plus I suspect he subscribes to a service like lexis nexus or law search service that provide updates to all cases.
I'd love to know what services he uses, I signed up for a test on one myself.
And that is the rest of the story????
Steve, You are correct in that this is an important video regarding this Batmobile case. I also agree this retired judge should have been a lot more stern in the report. I wish every one would have been ordered to participate and under oath. I am glad that things should be getting much more normal for the man in Indiana. The man did not deserve the treatment he got.
I cannot help, but think that there may be a further actions taken to remedy this abuse. Hopefully you’ll keep us updated.
Your passion of cars really shows here 😁 Sounds like our boy from Indiana has a good 4th ammendment case here.
This is one of your best vids by far. Well worth listening for 45 minutes. I would love to find out if a civil case by the car “builder” is in process. If I was his attorney I would start at a million dollars compensatory damages!
No apologies needed, great national story that you were always on top of. The best stories are the ones that have to bring us up to speed. ❤
I have found that sympathy dictates words. If they like you, you "declined" to speak. If they don't, you "refused" to comment.
You really have a great way of explaining the situation and breaking things down so a non attorney like myself can appreciate and understand 👌🏼
"That's there job to investigate"....you had me wetting myself with laughter at that remark.
Steve, I hope one day you reconsider being a judge if given the opportunity. I know you’ve said many times you aren’t interested in that, but you really would make a good one.
He is too smart
I am so glad you followed up on this. The story disappeared from media a while ago and I would not have known without seeing your video. And I do love your videos. I feel I learn a little bit each time.
I'd look at not only what the cops and DA did, but also what they weren't doing to do this. What crimes aren't being investigated or prosecuted so that a civil case in Indiana can move forward with the sheriff's office being the heavies for a rich local businessman?
In an interview or one of your previous videos concerning this, I resell the builder said he tried for a few months to get a payment. Unable to contact the buyer, he moved him back in the que.
Very thorough report, although spending a little more time explaining the "bizarre" business practices would have lifted the fog somewhat. The deal Racop has with DC Comics is that each replica has to be identical in appearance, size, wheelbase and every other physical dimension with the Original. The problem is that since the BatMobile first came out in about 1966, the car chassis that still have frames and would otherwise fit the requirements for the original frames with rear wheel drive are hard to find, since the trend is toward smaller vehicles. The smart move, if he could have afforded it, would gave been to buy 30 or 40 older Lincoln Town Cars, knowing that the engines and transmissions would likely have to be freshened. The main problem now is that you can't do the hand work required to build the BatMobiles and have them work perfectly for the prices he quoted. Racop's brother is a lawyer, if I remember correctly, but whoever his lawyer is, he should have drafted a better contract that more fully explains the construction process, and added costs likely as inflation hits us, and how the "list" works. Love to see your friend, Jay Leno, very quietly take his team out there to help the guy tweak his business practices, revise his contracts (sole jurisdiction in his home county) and figure out a way to have an assured supply of the best vehicles for converting into BatMobiles. I wonder if old hearses could be converted for that purpose - they're all low mileage and lightly used.
So someone appears to have buyers remorse and wants to get money off, so he went to a friend of the sheriff to try and abuse the person building the car. The main reason it didn't work is because it made national attention in large part because of your channel. Thanks for what you do.
I think the State of California should be charged Criminally.
I bet you not only never heard of the Eleventh Amendment, you have no idea what Article Four of the Constitution is.
So wait, the Sherif was LEGALLY allowed to make up an Affidavid, to go FISHING through an American Citizen's Email, without just cause, to see if there is any criminal Activity? What the Fuck?!
I hope the courts will order all records of the arrest expunged from all databases. I also think the sheriff's office should be sued for all expenses and losses in this case, along with a formal apology posted as a nationwide media release, especially directed towards the local media in both jurisdictions.
they dont do this. And in fact being arrested even if proven innocent can have a huge effect on your life
In my experience, arrests without convictions don't matter. I was arrested once and it's had no effect on my life at all.
Doesn't the fact that the DA wasn't informed about this case by his subordinates and after he was informed about it and investigated the case he immediately dismissed it as not being a criminal case tell you that this was a wrongful procedure?
The other thing suggesting wrongful procedure is the fact that after the case was dismissed before, the buyer then contacted his friend the sheriff directly and ask him to "handle" this case.
The third thing that suggests wrongful procedure is that the investigator worked on an assumption that he sought evidence for to support. And lo and behold, with some fancy paperwork and even fancier tweaking the facts to support his assumption, he managed to produce the evidence he was looking for.
This is a well-known procedural mistake that has been made by investigators for many decades. It's called tweaking the investigation and/or the evidence to support the conclusion you've made upfront. The investigator starts a case believing he/she already "knows" what has happened, dismisses evidence that contradicts that "knowledge" and either enhances circumstantial evidence to support this "knowledge" or even fabricates evidence to "prove" his/her "knowledge" was right from the start.
Steve there was a bit there while you discussed an independent review of the whole thing. I do not often see you emotional but your foot was tapping pretty hard through it. Nice to see, love your show even if it is US law. As a Canadian I am always amazed at the American Judicial System.
Thank you Steve. I was hoping you'd do a long vid when this concluded. I'm actually glad the investigating former judge did nothing but present the facts. It's objective. And most importantly is means no one can say they felt forced to testify against themselves by the government due to their employment status as even public servants have rights.
Steve, thank you for shedding light on this. Yes, the video was long, as it deserved to be. I have read many of the comments pre my post and I agree with most of them, to the point that I too would like to see some of these people fired, given unpaid leave and or charged accordingly. There is no room for favouritism in the legal arena. Time to put an end to it not only in the USA but also here in Canada.
One of the appropriate remedies would be to freeze the San Mateo County bank accounts for a month.
Thanks for the perfectly detailed video. It lasted exactly long enough for me to listen during my entire Walmart trip.
I sat through every minute of the video. Very entertaining and infuriating! Great storytelling as always Steve !
Little Fluffy Owl napping on a pillow of Ben, Steve's RHS
Cop assumes without proof! You know what happens when you do that. You make an ass out of yourself! Typical cop.
So when is the batmobile company suing the buyer?
This is now my favorite video of yours lol. You broke that down very well.
Why did they need 4 cops to pick up this guy? One or 2 should have more than enough. This builder, Racop, seems like an honest guy and the only one authorized to build this Batmobile which, to me, means that it would be almost impossible for him to defraud anybody. All eyes are on him and he's made a bunch of these cars already.
They wanted a publicly paid vacation
Still seems like a few people need to be disbarred.. and a few cops need restraining orders to prevent FURTHER retribution while you pursue their police certifications and surety bond
The cops should have been fired for blabbing about why they were there.
The judge and ag should get reprimanded that issue the warrant in that state. The ag should have made a call to the California ag on the case first.
I've been aching to hear an update on this story. I've watched several videos on this guy and his business and then this incident. I'm glad he can go back to making the cars thst every man who at heart is he's they were Batman with the means to commission to have one of these made and erode around living the dream.
I had a similar experience with the Franklin County Sheriff’s office in Pasco, WA. I filed a complaint with the sheriff’s office regarding perjury and a lawyer. The county prosecutor advised me to file the complaint w the the sheriff’s office and they would take over after they received the complaint from the sheriff’s office. Sheriff’s office would not accept the complaint and all further requests were ignored.
I love this. I love that you just keep going. I watched every second of it. If folks don't want to watch a 45 min video on Batmobile litigation, they can go somewhere else.
You know what Steve? At this point.. watching your videos and those of various 1st A auditors and copwatchers I come away from them AMAZED if the cops haven't shot and killed someone. A truly sad statement!
I hope the guy wins big on this, especially when they froze his bank accounts for a month.
Steve, I wouldn't think that a California deputy sheriff has the legal authority to arrest someone in Indiana?
They dont, not even outside their county.
He doesn't.
Sounds like the Batmobile car builder has a great civil case against the DA's office, Sheriff's Office and the buy. The DA's office should have ordered his DDA to cooperate in the investigation. She should screwed up big time and not talking to helping in the investigation was BS on her part big time. It also shows the DA in California must be pretty lame as a leader. Great video Steve and I for one am glad of the out come.
I'm glad this wasn't just swept under the rug and considered closed with the old Sheriff having left. Of course, it remains to be seen if there are any actual consequences for those people involved in this.
12:38 This reminds me of the proverb "When all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail." The investigating officer was the head of the vehicle theft task force. Presumably, he had dealt with a lot of vehicle theft cases in his career. As a result, he automatically interpreted the facts in a way that would support-or at least infer-the theft of a vehicle.
My best speculation here is it was *suggested* by the private investigator that the other buyer had received the disputed vehicle, and that he thought it would be advantageous to avoid giving advance notice to the builder (via the other buyer) by contacting the buyer to verify the claim. Since this is such an essential detail to the alleged crime, it just seems like negligence to try to "just hope that's true" before diving into such actions. His frequent voluntary updating of the sheriff on the progress of the investigation also gives the appearance of the extension of a favor, originating from the buyer. Like "A friend asked if we could look into this, I want you to take another look at it and see if you can dig up anything that can restart this case, keep me in the loop."
It's a shame that the investigating judge didn't dig a little deeper on this. I suppose it would be fruitless though to try to ask the PI if he wanted to be interviewed, as he would very likely respond by saying he would only agree if his client was okay with it. (and seeing as his client didn't want to be interviewed, that's probably not going to happen)
"I don't remember the details of the conversation" is certainly dubious, but at least the sheriff did agree to the interview and provided useful information. But yeah, asking the two people about a conversation and one of them says "I don't remember" and the other saying "I'm not going to answer any of your questions" is certainly suspicious behavior. Now we're not allowed to CONCLUDE it was shady, but it certainly has the smell.
LASTLY, I think there needs to be more emphasis on this being a case of FRAUD being referred to a department that investigates THEFT. It gives me the impression that the sheriff thought something along the lines of "this isn't REALLY a theft case, but the DA already determined that there was no fraud either, so the only way this is going to get any traction is if we pursue it as a THEFT." And that's just wrong, that's perverting the judicial system to try to force it to operate in a way it was't designed to, in order to get a different outcome than it ordinarily would if used correctly. Like you're trying to twist in a stubborn screw with your screwdriver and it just won't go in, so you get out a hammer. "That screw just won't go in, but Bob says it should, so I'm just gonna pull out a hammer", instead of asking yourself if Bob really understands why that screw won't turn, because maybe there's a good reason it won't go in!
When you're a hammer everything looks like a nail. Lashman is used to dealing with drug dealers and thieves. Unfortunately for him this is a solid business man who's been in business for a very long time and is also a preacher. I watched the interviews with him and he seemed more hurt than angry that this had been done to him. It called his personal honor into question by dishonorable power hogs. The reason DC comics gave him the contract to build replica Batmobiles was because he WAS an honorable man. Adam Wests Batman was the inspiration for him getting started in this business.
Did Bobo the clown ever get his car?
I certainly hope not.