In receipt of Stolen Goods w/o our knowledge

[rtp6862]

What is the name of your state? MN
We just discovered that a debt that was paid to us, in the form of goods versus currency, is actually stolen goods that was reported to the local police department at the time of the burglary. We have been in contact with the original owner of the items and that is how we found out. The original owners did file a claim with their insurance and have received a check for these items. They have gone to the police department and informed them that she knows where some of her items are located and they have called us to discuss this with us. She is aware that we did not know they had been stolen from her (we are not closely associated) and has told the PD this, however I am concerned that we may be in some trouble and am also concerned that we are now out the money that these items were in payment for. Do we have any recourse in obtaining our money? My guess is that we are also required by law to return the stolen items to the original owner? Are we in any trouble? Should we have an attorney present when we talk to the police?

 

[Some Random Guy]

You are definitely going to lose the goods - and yourt recourse for that is to try to collect the original debt from the person who gave you the goods. You will probably have to go to small claims for this. Unfortunately it sounds like he doesn't have any assets to pay you with, so you may be SOL.

As for the police, since they are already aware of you and the goods, it would be best for you to contact them before they contact you - so you can make it clear that you aren't trying to keep th estuff now that you know its trainted. You may want to get a lawyer involved, but that shouldn't be necessary if you have no record and you can provide contact info on who gave them to you and you can convincingly say that you did not know that they were stolen when you received them.

I would suggest that you (or your lawyer) offer to bring the goods down to the station to be examined. That way you can avoid having the police sitting in your house examining all of your other stuff to see if it might be stolen.