Purchased A Classic Vehicle Through Marketplace. No Title. Vin Came Back Clean. Not Reported Stolen. Through Some Research Found The Previous Owner Made Contact. He Claims It Was Stolen And Is Now Filing A Police Report That It Was Stolen. California

So I found a classic car through some connections and traded for a motorcycle. Before finalizing the deal I found that... 1. The car was not running 2. No valid registration 3. No title 4. Checked with local law enforcement. And found no foul play. 5. Vehicle has not been registered since 2015

I thought it was simple to just obtain the vehicle and bring a bill of sale to the DMV and get it titled

Through my connections, I had some police friends of mine run the vin. Came back clean. And even got the contact info of who registered it last in 2015.

Made contact with the previous owner just to see what was done to the car and the motor. Owner state that the vehicle was actually stolen (no police report ever filed). He stated that had someone work on the car that he has since lost contact with 5 years ago. It has transferred hands a few times after that And that he would try to file it as stolen a few days after I talked to him.

I made contact with the trooper that the "owner" tried to file the report with. Trooper claims that it is not criminal and will not file a stolen vehicle report.

I tried to come to a compromise with the original owner because we're both victims of this. He does not want to work with me and still claims I'm the criminal right now because the vehicle is in my hands

What are my options here. I want to give the guy back his car, but I don't want to be out the estimated 15k for the motorcycle I lost in the trade.

Location: California