Santa Rosa resident Suede Lee Barganski, aged 57, has been sentenced to a term of nine years and eight months in prison for the theft of over $350,000 from customers through his defunct classic car repair business, the District Attorney's Office of Sonoma County announced. Sonoma County District Attorney Carla Rodriguez underscored the gravity of Barganski's offenses, stating, "Mr. Barganski took advantage of his trusting customers for more than a decade and needed to be held accountable", according to the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office.
As the proprietor of RadRods of Norcal, Inc., Barganski has pled guilty to six felony charges, admitting to an out-on-bail enhancement and conceding that many of his victims, who were particularly vulnerable due to their age, had been severely impacted by his criminal activities, some of whom are now deceased, and this deception lasted for over ten years, even as his business shifted locations amidst eviction notices; It's important to note that these elderly individuals were specifically targeted as they sought Barganski's unique expertise in rehabilitating automobiles from as far back as the 1930s, yet many only realized the deception after waiting months or years without the services paid for.
The scope of Barganski's fraudulent actions encompassed at least 22 individual victims, with instances of forged vehicle titles and cars sold to unknowing buyers. Ultimately, many customers discovered their prized vehicles abandoned, some in a field south of Santa Rosa, left in a state of deterioration, with parts stripped or haphazardly stuffed inside the cars they cherished and trusted him to restore.
Following Barganski's failure to appear in court in 2022 and ensuing fraud allegations in other states such as Idaho and Texas, he was finally apprehended in Texas in October and extradited to California, where he will start his sentence at the Sonoma County Jail before transitioning to the mandatory supervision portion of his sentencing. Once his time is served, the District Attorney's Office looks to enforce full restitution to all the affected parties in Sonoma County, ensuring that justice is served in terms of prison time and in the form of financial recompense for those wronged.
