I bought my truck from a shady dealer

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:
Could our Lawyer and LEO please correct me if I'm wrong here.
1, the OP at the time he bought the vehicle did not know the title was forged so up until he was notified by news paper article he would not have been it trouble. And could not be charged with any crime. But if the detective or the owner were to stumble onto this post it could be used in both a criminal and civil case.

I don't think he could be charged with a crime in this case. He became aware of a possibility something was amiss. He contacted the police and made them aware that he owned a vehicle bought from this dealer. He has no criminal liability at all, at this point.

2, the minute he posted that he now has information that the vehicle he bought from this dealership is involved in a investigation and he has been asked to contact the detective (he read the newspaper article) if he were to sell the vehicle now he could face charges.

Criminal charges... no. He contacted an officer and was told that there is nothing pending on his vehicle at this moment. He has no reason to believe that his vehicle is potentially stolen or a part of a fraudulent title scheme. If he were to sell it, I don't see any criminal charges. HOWEVER... if he sells it to someone else and doesn't make them aware of the issue and it does come back as stolen or part of the fraud scheme, he as the seller could face civil liability for failing to disclose that. This is an unlikely event... but people sue for way less in this country...

3, now that he knows the title is most likely forged if he now sells it he would (and should IMO) face charges of at lest impeding a police investigation. NOTE I said if he now sells it. The OP seems smart enough not to do this.

Don

I don't see how he is impeding an investigation if he sells. However if the police come to him and want to inspect the vehicle and he refuses to provide reasonable information as to where it might be found (ie the name and address/phone number of the new owner), then PERHAPS an officer could make an argument for hindering an investigation. Again, I think that is a far stretch.

At this point he has contacted police and tentatively cleared his vehicle. Unless the officer specifically told him not to sell the vehicle, he should be fine from a criminal standpoint. From a civil standpoint, if I bought that truck from him, it got impounded as the result of a police investigation and I knew that he was aware of the investigation and didn't tell me... we would have some problems.