What are the process on getting my property back and what are the law suit options?
Asked on Dec 15th, 2015 on Criminal Law - Pennsylvania
More details to this question:
I was arrested and charged with receiving stolen property and theft/movable objects of a dirt bike. Dirt bike was owned by my sons for over 2 years with video proof (Public YouTube videos dated 1 1/2 years ago) and pictures with VIN and condition, along with non- notarized bill of sale and copy of previous owners ID. A theft report was made 1 month ago stating someone stole there dirt bike. That person seen my bike up for sale and set up a sting to see if it was theirs. There only evidence was pictures of their stolen bike. Going by certain similarities between there pics and my bike, the officer agreed that the bike belonged to the complainants. I was arrested and charged. I was not permitted to show my proof at the scene. Officer never checked bike to verify for himself that bike was indeed the stolen bike before getting to station but asked the complainant and his friends to transport the bike alone to the station so he could verify it is their bike. He did this because he said there were too many people around and wanted to check bike at a secure location and had them transport bike because he only had a squad car and complainant had a pickup truck. He arrested me due to marks on the bike matched the pics. Now the marks are very common stress marks on the plastic fenders that literally every bike has. Also my aftermarket exhaust matched the pics as well. Now this exhaust happens to be the number one top selling aftermarket exhaust for my model bike as well as most other bikes. It’s the number one modification done to my and most other bikes. Not to mention, I have pics and videos of my bike publicly posted on social media (YouTube) dated over 2 years ago. I have no title but I have pictures of the VIN numbers stamped in my bike. The complainant’s bike was only stolen less than a month ago.
You need a lawyer to help you defend the case. Once you are found not guilty, the attorney can file a motion to return property to get the judge to order the police to return the bike.
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