There are car thefts, and then there are stories like this one. A vintage Mercedes Benz, the kind people hold onto for decades, was almost gone for good. Not chopped up, not abandoned, but quietly prepared to disappear across the ocean. That’s where things change.
A Family Heirloom Taken From Diamond Heights
This all started back on November 23, 2024, in San Francisco’s Diamond Heights neighborhood. Around mid-morning, police were called to a home on Turquoise Way after a burglary. It wasn’t just random property missing. The homeowners told officers something far more significant had been taken, a 1970 Mercedes Benz 280 SL. Not just a car, but a family heirloom.
Anyone who knows these cars understands what that means. This isn’t something you replace with an insurance check and move on. These Pagoda-style Mercedes are tied to history, to people, to memories. And just like that, it was gone.
Two Names Surface After Months of Digging
Investigators didn’t let it sit. The San Francisco Police Department’s Auto Theft Unit started digging, and they didn’t do it alone. Plainclothes officers got involved, working angles that go beyond a simple stolen car report. That’s where the sequence starts to come together. Investigators began identifying people tied to the case. Over time, two names surfaced, Michael Demetrescu and Anthony Norman Fretty. It wasn’t instant, and it wasn’t easy. This stretched over months, with pieces slowly falling into place.
Demetrescu was the first to be picked up. On March 6, police arrested him and booked him into San Francisco County Jail on charges tied to burglary and vehicle theft. That might sound like the end of it, but it wasn’t even close.
Here’s the part that matters. Even after that arrest, the car was still missing. That’s what makes this story different. The vehicle hadn’t just been taken and hidden locally. It was moving. And that’s where things start to get complicated.
Prepped for Export to the Netherlands
Months later, on June 23, investigators got a critical break. The California Department of Motor Vehicles Investigation Division flagged something that immediately raised alarms. The stolen Mercedes had surfaced again, but not in a driveway or a garage. It was being prepped for sale. Worse than that, it was being lined up for export to the Netherlands.
Think about how close that was. Once a car like that leaves the country, tracking it down becomes a completely different challenge. Different laws, different jurisdictions, different everything. For the owners, that would have likely been the end of the road.
Instead, law enforcement moved fast. SFPD Auto Theft Unit officers teamed up with DMV investigators and tracked the vehicle to a shipping facility in Richmond. On June 26, they found it. The Mercedes was recovered before it ever made it onto a ship.
That moment probably doesn’t look dramatic from the outside. No high-speed chase, no big public scene. But in reality, that’s the turning point. The car was seconds away from disappearing into the global market.
A Second Arrest Closes the Case
And then, the second arrest followed. On July 17, Fretty was taken into custody and booked into San Francisco County Jail. The charges were serious, including vehicle theft, possession of stolen property, and delaying an investigation.
So now you’ve got the full picture. A burglary that turned into a coordinated effort to move a classic car out of the country. Two suspects tied to it. And a recovery that came down to timing.
Why Classic Cars Are Increasingly Moved, Not Chopped
But zoom out for a second, because this isn’t just about one Mercedes. High-value classic cars have become targets in a different way over the past few years. They’re not always stripped for parts anymore. In many cases, they’re moved. Quietly, efficiently, and often internationally. The demand is there, and once a car crosses borders, it becomes incredibly difficult to trace.
That’s why this case stands out. Not because a car was stolen, but because it was intercepted before it vanished for good. That doesn’t happen every time. And there’s something else worth saying here. This wasn’t just persistence from one group. It took coordination between local police, specialized auto theft investigators, and state-level DMV officials. Without that overlap, the car probably would have slipped through.
At the end of it all, the Mercedes was returned to its rightful owners. A car that had been part of a family’s story is back where it belongs. That outcome doesn’t undo what happened, but it changes everything moving forward. Because here’s the hard truth. Most stolen classics don’t come back. This one did.
Via SFPD
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