Unknowing Purchase of Stolen Motorcycle Parts

My question involves personal property located in the State of: North Carolina

So this all starts with a Craigslist ad selling a Kawasaki KX65 Parts bike. It was basically a frame, front suspension and wheel, and an engine that was COMPLETELY destroyed. Rusted out etc etc etc. Well I got there to pick it up and it turned out to be a different model (KX85 instead) but for $50...I figured the few things I needed might be OK from the bike since they are similar. I get home and run the VIN number through NICB to verify it's not stolen. It comes back as good (more on this in a bit). So I run it through a Kawasaki VIN Decoder and discover that thing basket of parts used to be a 2011 Kawasaki KX85 at some point in its life. Now it's a basket of parts all destroyed and only adds up to @ 15% of a complete bike (maybe).

I do some research and find out that the bike's value is @ $2,500 - $3,000 in excellent condition (which of course it's no where near at this point). I have a 10 year old son and a 7 year old son who are just getting into bikes. So I decide that it's worth me putting $1500 - $2000 into to resurrect this bike into a worthy race bike for when my oldest gets to that point. So I go out and spend @ $2,200 or so in parts over the next 6-12 months and upwards of a good 20-30 hours in labor rebuilding this bike for my son. It came out AMAZING and he's excited about it, but he's still too short to ride it. So it sits for a few months before I decide to try making it rideable for him.

Long story short....someone stole the bike out of my garage @ 3 weeks or so ago. It was an obviously targeted theft since NOTHING else was taken and there were plenty of high dollar items laying around that would have been easier to sell and such. I call the local sherriff and get some pictures ready for him as well as the VIN number and all that jazz. He gets there, tells me they saw some kids pushing it earlier that morning, but have not found it as of yet. He thanks me for all the info I gave him about the bike and such.

He calls me a few hours later and tells me he has some bad news for me. Apparently, this VIN was reported stolen @ 18 months prior and that this was going to get interesting for sure.

They managed to recover the bike a few miles from the house. I have given them all my receipts and such for the $2,200 in parts I used to bring this bike back to life, along with eBay auction Ids for parts I bought there etc etc etc. The previous owner wants the bike back, I want my parts back....this could get ugly.

So my question is this.....who has rights to the bike as a whole at this point? I didn't really buy a bike from this guy off CraigsList (I did give the officers everything I had on the guy I bought it from), but I did apparently buy a stolen frame. I then proceeded to build a bike around a stolen frame without realizing it was stolen. NICB VinCheck is apparently not a valid VIN check, and know I know for sure about that, but it doesn't help my current scenario. Had I known it was stolen I would have called the cops and been out $50 on a pile of rusted out crappy parts. Now? I'm out $2,200 and it sounds like the sheriff isn't even really sure what to do here. The law says he's supposed to give the bike back to the previous owner, but with all the pictures and info I provided to him...he knows I didn't buy a full bike, and 85% (or so) of the parts on this bike were paid for out of MY pocket. To the point where the bike looks like it just rolled off the showroom floor.

The previous owner is obviously wanting the bike back, and I feel bad it got stolen in the first place, but with all the stuff I bought....I could quite literally go buy a $150 non-stolen frame...and put all my stuff on there and have a non-stolen bike.

Is there any legal recourse here? I do NOT want the previous owner taking the bike back with all my parts on it and ruining all the work I put into it. It originally got stolen off their front porch, and if it gets stolen again, it turns into a whole new level of messy. Any advice at all? The sheriff is going to talk to the DA today since he has no idea what to do here either.....so it sounds like we're in a weird legal place. I'm not sure it's worth suing the previous owner if they get the bike back....but I also don't think they deserve a brand new bike courtesy of my wallet due to one piece of this thing belonging to them. At this point I'm perfectly happy to strip all my parts off it and hand them back their frame....but I know it probably won't go down like that.

Any advice is VERY welcome here. Any previous cases that are similar would be awesome as well. I'll be consulting a lawyer shortly as well...but before I get to that point I figured I would post something out here...

Thanks!!

Scott from Raleigh, NC

Legally the bike is his. Given the fact that you purchased it in good faith not knowing that it was stolen gets you out of criminal responsibility, but that doesn't change the fact that the bike is stolen property. You're likely screwed.

Here are a few pictures that may help solidify the condition of before and after.

Before pictures:
https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0...5e&oe=57DB6DC5
https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0...68&oe=57A3215B

After Pictures:
https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0...2d&oe=57DE1676
https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/t31.0-...93433025_o.jpg

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Quoting flyingron

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Legally the bike is his. Given the fact that you purchased it in good faith not knowing that it was stolen gets you out of criminal responsibility, but that doesn't change the fact that the bike is stolen property. You're likely screwed.

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Oh I do understand that, but technically it wasn't a "bike" when I bought it. The stolen frame did however become the "base" for me building this bike. Which is where the grey area kind of kicks in. Even the police aren't 100% sure what to do here.

There's no GRAY area. The VIN on the frame is controlling. While you've added other essential parts as far as the police are concerned, the bike belongs to the other guy. You can argue perhaps he was unjustly enriched by the enhancement of the parts. I assume that since this was a dirt bike it wasn't insured by either of you so you don't have that issue.

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Oh I do understand that, but technically it wasn't a "bike" when I bought it.

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Doesn't matter.

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Even the police aren't 100% sure what to do here.

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I suspect they'll figure it out sooner or later or just keep the bike "in evidence" and nobody will get it without a court order.

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Quoting flyingron

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There's no GRAY area. The VIN on the frame is controlling. While you've added other essential parts as far as the police are concerned, the bike belongs to the other guy. You can argue perhaps he was unjustly enriched by the enhancement of the parts. I assume that since this was a dirt bike it wasn't insured by either of you so you don't have that issue.

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Yeah I suppose you're right, but that just doesn't feel "right" in this case. Now if I didn't have receipts and photo documentation about what I have done to it, then I would agree with you 100%. Heck even if it was a full bike when I purchased it...I would totally side with the previous owner as well. This wasn't a few upgrades to a stolen bike, it was a build a bike from the ground up scenario.

At this point, I'm not really expecting anything to come of this, but considering the "stolen" parts only amount to $50 out of my $2,250 "investment" here...the scales are a tad tipped the wrong way. I just have a gut feeling this is going to turn into a civil matter in the end, and it probably wouldn't even be worth my time. I guess time will tell.

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Quoting MotoGod

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...the scales are a tad tipped the wrong way.

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I don't think you really understand what people have already said in this thread. Legally, the other party is owner of the bike. Unless the owner grants you permission to remove everything you've done to it, you'll probably end up having to go to civil court to get payment. And even that may be a long shot.

End of the day, that bike is going back to its owner.

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Quoting Pringle

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I don't think you really understand what people have already said in this thread. Legally, the other party is owner of the bike. Unless the owner grants you permission to remove everything you've done to it, you'll probably end up having to go to civil court to get payment. And even that may be a long shot.

End of the day, that bike is going back to its owner.

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I do understand what people have said. I'm not a complete moron. I understand that the VIN dictates ownership. I get it. I've said my peace about it. The chips will fall where they may. My comment about the scales being tipped were in reference to a $50 basket of parts causing me to be out $2,200.

The only thing I am questioning here is the definition of the word "bike" or "vehicle" in this case considering the condition it was purchased in, versus it's current condition. I realize what a VIN is and what it does. This is an oddball scenario (as every officer connected to me as mentioned as well), so I was looking for opinions/advice on this is all. If the consensus out here is "You're Screwed" then I got what I was looking for out of an internet forum. Pretty simple...

$2,200 isn't going to make or break me in the end, and I can always build another one. If we had a better way of validating stolen versus non-stolen VINs, I'd only be out $50 and the previous owner would have had his frame and busted up stuff back 18 months ago. Alas, there isn't a better way at the moment, and unfortunately guys like me buying used "stuff" with a VIN get screwed in the end even though we make a good faith effort to validate it's a legit piece of "whatever" before we buy it....or before we do much with it.

...and Pringle, if it were that cut and dry the previous owner would have had the bike back in their possession @ 2 weeks ago, which is what led me here anyway. We shall see what happens.

It's a horrible situation, one where the best solution for both parties is to just strip the parts from the frame and everyone goes their separate ways. Unfortunately, I don't think it will work out that way.

Either way, let us know when you hear back from the PD.

If the original owner made an insurance claim for the motorcycle and the insurance company paid out on the claim, there's a strong chance that the party entitled to possession of the motorcycle is actually the insurance company. Of course, it's not going to be easy for you to figure out whether an insurance claim was made or what insurance company was involved unless the title owner volunteers that information, but if you have a friendly deputy working on the case perhaps that's something they'll try to determine in relation to the investigation of what should be done with the motorcycle.