Melbourne ‘Batman’ Taylor Tangas turns villainous fiend after pleading guilty to fraud charges

A man who masqueraded as Batman has proven to be more supervillain than superhero, with his shock crime spree revealed.

Taylor Tangas from South Morang has been outed as Melbourne's Batman and a villainous fraudster.

A man who masqueraded around Melbourne as Batman has been exposed as a villainous conman.

Taylor Tangas promised he could help people beat the COVID-19 blues after he was spotted looking over city traffic in a homemade Batman suit early on March 31 last year.

The South Morang concreter unmasked himself as the city’s Batman who became the talk of the town after he was snapped perched over the Kings Way and City Rd intersection

Tangas told media he wore the suit to show his mum the city was safe from COVID-19 and had “nothing to worry about”.

The unemployed tradie claimed a friend had dared him to venture out in his homemade superhero costume in public

Tangas also claimed on radio that a group of tradies let him into a city building to retrieve his phone.

Tangas told the Herald Sun he was happy to help anyone during lockdown by bringing out the costume again.

However, Tangas proved to be more supervillain than superhero when he was later nabbed rorting $6500 via a sophisticated retail and betting racket.

Tangas looks over city traffic dressed as Batman. He was later done for fraud.

Tangas should consider rebranding himself as a Batman villain such as the Riddler or the Joker after his full criminality was laid bare in court last week.

The hero Melbourne didn’t want and in the end didn’t really need created a bogus JB Hi-Fi account with a stolen bank card and purchased goods worth more than $3770.

Tangas and his female partner-in-crime then hightailed to Northland where the clipped crusader presented dodgy ID to collect his ill-gotten loot from JB staff.

The dubious duo also splashed down on two bets worth a combined $2800 via Sportsbet and another gambling outlet.

Police raided the crony sidekick’s Thomastown home and found Tangas with stolen IDs and a doctored driver’s licence just days later.

The real crime fighters also discovered an embossing machine and a list of the stolen electronic devices on a whiteboard inside the dodgy duo’s criminal cave.

Tangas had earlier been pinged with drugs after swapping his cape for meth on October 9.

The non-criminal mastermind was also pinched showcasing his amazing superpower which was attempting to break into cars in Kew on June 25.

Tangas, who was on bail for his offences, had been found driving an unregistered car – not the Batmobile – while unlicensed in Thomastown in May 2019.

The court heard Tangas was formerly an MMA fighter who participated in two professional fights before he got into concreting and urban cosplay.

A downturn in concreting work caused by the COVID-19 pandemic led Tangas to hanging out with “undesirable people” and joining the drug scene, the court was told.

Magistrate Hayley Bate said Tangas committed “quite sophisticated offending”.

“(It) was an absolute disgrace,” Magistrate Bate said.

Ms Bate said Tangas’ “selfish behaviour” would have caused his victims to “feel sick”.

The magistrate further slammed Tangas for appearing at an earlier online court hearing from a car in a singlet — dubbing it “completely inappropriate for a court hearing”.

Tangas further concerned Magistrate Bate when he was more than 15 minutes late to his follow up online hearing and did not leave enough time for the court to sentence him.

Magistrate Bate requested Tangas front up in person to Heidelberg Magistrates’ Court for sentencing, warning the tradie there was a chance she would jail him.

In the end, Magistrate Bate gave Tangas an opportunity to avoid immediate jail time due to his age and lack of criminal history.

Tangas, 26, was sentenced last Friday to an 18-month correction order after pleading guilty to charges including obtaining financial advantage by deception.

Tangas was also served with 120 hours of unpaid community work and fined $400.

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