ok long story short a few months ago. my baby.. my 97 ram got "stolen" called the cops, truck got found the next day.... was gone less then 24 hours....(I was lucky got 3 broken windows) anyway back to keeping this short. turns out the guy who had/has the truck bought it for someone......(has receipt, not legal because I own the truck outright).... anyway. guy say's sorry he will give the truck back.. but seeing as how I'm out of state I can't get it for a week "no big deal I'll keep it in my driveway where it will be safe"... before I go to pickup truck I call to make sure he's home.... no luck...two weeks later he answers the phone.... say's I'm keeping the truck... cops say I can sue but it was deemed a civil matter so they can't do anything any more........ but I can sue him.... or just show up and get the truck...that's a 4+ hour drive one way... and he said he parked his truck behind mine so I can't just pull up and drive it off... now my truck is a mostly trail rig truck I haven't driven it in a year due to life and the guy who "bought" it says he toke the power steering pump off but it's still in the truck.. so truck won't run or I would just go up and drive over his truck and onto my trailer..... so my questions  are what limits do I have? time? $$$ amount what's my best path to take to get my truck back? (I have $68,000 invested in this truck, ya he bought it for $500) I even offered to pay him back (not legally required to). where do I take him to court? his state or mine? truck was stolen and is still in his state.

TRUCK SPEC'S
97 dodge Ram 1500 4X4 360/auto slt larime, short bed
ported and polished intake manifold
heavy duty tranny over haul 2 years ago.
Full msd 6a system including blaster 2 coil
5" lift
d44 frount 3.55 gears open diff. (second one)
9.25 rear 3.55 gears open diff. (second one)
extreme drop pitman arm
18" travel nitrogen shocks
36" swamper sxt's
thefastman.com trotted body
custom front bumper w/ receiver
custom rear receiver
1 off white face gauges
custom graphics
cobra cb w/road king mic peaked and tuned
stage 3 turbo kit for motor not installed (includes intercooler)
K&N gen 3 intake
rear diff. guard (thnx to dodgeman on here)
magna flow exhaust
clarion head unit
1000 watt sony amp
12 alpine type r12 sub in custom box.
sony 6X9 and 4.25
bedliner on all rocker panels and wheel wells
cut rear fenders
plus full set of spare rear and front axle shafts (all 4 including unit bearing on front)
dual electric fan system (not installed)

LOTS LOTS more.... also lots of new parts like track bar power steering system. I spare no limits with my trucks.

kelly blue book say's the truck worth $4,600.. doesn't take in any of the above


anyway I'm looking for true legal advice please no net lawyers......right now I don't have the money to go see a local lawyer due to being out ofwork for the last 6 months with my cancer treatment. anyway enough reading for now. thnx for reading and thnx in advance for the info/ link... I haven't done anything but try talking to the guy yet. not even take out ads in his local paper calling him out like I want to.....

Scott


edit: I forgot to ad no ins. on the truck due to it being moved to a trail only rig... (I have 2 other 97 rams)

Did you say 68,000.

Like- thousand?

i say hire a nice tow truck and yank his shit into the street in park and get ur truck back ...screw being nice 

I have the title in hand.. problem is no tow com[pany will touch his truck to get mine.... at first I was going to use my new 2500 4X4 cummins ram to pull his truck sideways (hoping to flip it over). But I'm trying to do this the legal way cops say they can't do anything city or state...


Scott

I would pull the drive shafts out of his truck and let it roll down the street then say I don't know what you are talking about.

Scott,

What state is the truck in now?  What state is your title from?  Was there any insurance involved?

I think any law suit should be entered in your location.  Force him to come to you for court.  Depending on states, this could be a problem.

The truck being in his driveway may be a civil matter, but the illegal sale of the vehicle is fraud.  The amount of money is so low they are going to be slow to worry about it.  The guy obviously knew the truck was stolen because it is obvious that the truck was worth far more than $500.

You might be able to file a lien on his property or vehicles.  You would need an attorney to answer that question.

Let me think about this some.  Can you tell us what city the truck is in now?

Ron

What else are you not telling us? you seem way to calm about this.

Missed the part about no insurance.  If a lien against his property(ies) can be filed.  That should be done.  Tie up anything that he has.  Affect his credit rating.

We have some cops on RCC.  Let's ask them if you are getting the true legal info.  The dude may be related to local cops.

no the cop tried pushing him. he's a friend of mine and a few other wheelin buddies. I have talked with more then 10 cops on this both state and city.... trucks in Idabel OKlahoma.

Scott

thnx for the info so far.

Is he in TN? I'll drag his truck down the street! If you can get a trailer and have it behind another truck, I'lll pull it up on it for you Oh yeah, I prefer to work about 2am since few are up then.

Rats! Oklahoma! I'd just take a vacation day, drive up while he's at work, and take it! You have the title in hand, and a couple of buddies with you. Oh! and no REAL friend would do that to you!

Theft is theft, they should not have threatened him with theft, they should have arrested him and had the truck towed to impound, You need to press charges on him. I would also call the police and tell them your on your way up to get the truck and you need some one to meet you at his house.

the guy who has the truck is a traveling construction working so getting it when he's not home isn't an issue then again I may go visit with his ex wife/wife (they are currently trying to work it out) see if she wont just give me the keys to his truck...  then getting my truck will be easy.

Scott

most of the travelling workers like that have a company truck though ..i know most of them do where ilive ...i wouldnt mind doing that for a living but its about as bad as being a trucker which i was lol ...well scott u will get it back i am pretty sure we all would and where is quinn when we need him lol ..

And in the meantime, he swaps all of your good parts onto his wrecked truck.  If it goes through the legal system, you will only see a tiny fraction of what you got into it.  Like swampthing said, call the sheriff and tell them you are at his house to collect your property. I had to get my stuff out of a psycho ex girlfriends house once and  a sheriff met me there about 45 mins after i called.

Be at his house with a trailer when you call title in hand.  Trying to make some kind of apointment for a later date means time to call the thief and get a story about a receipt blah blah blah.  If you are there and ready to go then the sheriff has to make a decision on the spot. Your title that matches the trucks VIN will be the evidence that he has to consider.

This sort of thing doesnt get sorted out over the phone, but dont go doing anything to his property. That will make you a criminal in a hurry.

Big question.  Why does he have the keys to the truck? I got a feeling theres a little more to the story then we are getting.

The longer you wait the greater his odds of getting a salvage title and laying legal claim to your rig.

Go get it yourself or count it as gone.

X2, and if he's that determined to have your truck, he may go further and get a "lost title" and have it transfered.  No it's not legal, no it doesn't seem possible, but it does happen.

What you need to do is call somebody with a Wrecker/Towtruck and have them hook to his truck and drag it out of the way, Sideways if you have to. And then load your truck on a Trailer, Rollback, Wrecker, whatever.  Don't need the keys to haul it on any of those.

That being said you can also get your Key at any Chrysler Dealership, give them your VIN (may have to provide Proof of Ownership, which is easy for you) and they'll get you a new key made 

At which point you could start it up, drop it in gear and go around his truck, or push it out of the way, doesn't matter if the Power Steering Pump was removed, you're not driving it far, just into the street where you can load it onto something (trailer, rollback, ect)

I completely forgot about the Abandoned Vehicle approach 

It seems like most of the work is done for the police and they're still trying to pass responsibility down the line, WTF???

I'm sorry for all the BS you're having to deal with man. I hope it all turns out for the best in the end for you, and if it doesn't, hopefully karma bites the thief and the guy who has your truck both in the a$$ in a major way!

wait - did it cross state lines?  does that not make it a federal matter if so?  might be a stronger legal leg to stand on....

 I don't get that  the stink is about.
Your truck is stole, you report it stolen; the police find it in possession of someone that purchased it illegally.  
 This guy buys a truck WITHOUT a title.  Then finds out it was stolen.  HE IS SOL!  If he refuses to give it up, that is receiving and concealing stolen property, a felony.  If you are the legal title holder, i it is your truck, show up with the cops.  
All you have to do is tell the guy you are coming to get it with the cops.  If he resists, he goes to jail.   Simple as that.  Just because he doesn't want to give it back it does not suddenly become a civil matter.  The receipt is worthless because it came from a thief and you can PROVE you are the owner and did not sell it.  Don't let this guy  BS you!!

EVEN if it was a situation where you sold the truck to this guy and told him you were keeping the title till the check cleared.  If it turned out his check was worthless and he was long gone with the truck, you can still REPORT it stolen and give the guys name.  It is still CRIMINAL FRAUD no matter how you cut it. 

give scott a break hes going through cancer treatment,something is up with the theifs local cops,if its a small town he probably drinks beer with them at the bowling alley on saturday.i say have someone watch the house see when hes not home,then approach the wife and tell her the police are on their way,and you are there to get the truck.scare her that she could be a acomplice,if they are having problems maybe she will think its in her best intresti think the longer you wait scott the worse its gonna get,he has the same truck and didnt just steal it for the front ,taking off the ps pump shows what his plans are,who knows whats gone off it now.TAKE CARE HOPE IT ALL WORKS OUT FOR YOU

Sheesh, you make it sound like I refused to ever give it back to you. I told you I'd keep it in good hands until I decided you didn't need it back. Besides, it looks better in my driveway missing a few pieces.  


Can't believe the trouble you are having getting it back Scott. If I were there I'd be more than happy to go retrieve it for you. I know what that truck means to you.

And, to all who are mentioning the amount of money he has in it. I have been in the truck and under the truck helping to fix things on it. I would say his assessment of amount spent is highly accurate.

Hopefully, things will get resolved with this before the guy does something non-repairable to it.

Eric

http://ramchargercentral.com/open-discussions/legal-advice-needed-about-my-stolen-truck/?action=post;quote=1563287;num_replies=45;sesc=1a5aa79a8df99fbb41ee6a2836301949
THNX Eric  that mean a lot coming from youbro... and if you guys have questions if I'm holding back .. Eric was the first person I called after the cops he was there for me thru most of this...

as far as him claiming the truck for it being at his house... the state has been notified (where the truck it titled) so he can't get it thru them even have cops verify to the state that he wont give it back. Oklahoma also has it down the same way so it's going to be hard for him to do....

Scott

THNX to Dodge88 Looks like I have a way to get the truck back.... found out what the cops is saying is true what they didn't tell me is what to do to take care of it...... Looks like I'm going to have to make the road trip no matter what.... so we shall see by the end of the week.

RCC ROCKS

Scott