Neighbor sells Texas man’s $7000 motorcycle for $2800, claims it was “abandoned” because the owner spent 6 weeks of summer out of state caring for his father in hospital: ‘He had it towed to a friend's garage first, then sold it’

My neighbor sold my motorcycle while I was out of state and is claiming I abandoned it

I left Texas for about 6 weeks to help my dad after [an operation]. My motorcycle was parked in my assigned spot at my apartment complex the whole time. Registered, insured, plates current.

Got back Sunday and it was gone.

I assumed it had been stolen and filed a police report. Then today another neighbor told me the guy across from me had been telling people I moved out and apparently sold the bike to someone while I was gone.

I confronted him and he actually admitted it over text. His explanation is that he thought I abandoned it because I was gone for over a month. Apparently he had it towed to a friend's garage first, then sold it for $2,800 while telling the buyer it belonged to a relative who had lost the key.

The bike is worth around $7k.

He got the neighbor to admit this in writing, but the neighbor claimed that it was “abandoned.” He even had it towed to his friend’s garage first in order to make the sale. Selling the $7000 bike for only $2800, telling the buyer that it was a relative’s who had lost the key.

The owner shared his story with an online community, worried that the buyer, if they can be located, is the one who is going to get totally ripped off and cheated on this one, which, combined with the reason he was away, says something about his character. He should be more worried about himself. While it’s true that the buyer usually gets the short end of the stick if they have purchased goods that weren’t the seller's to sell, the fact that the neighbor told the seller that he was:

1. Selling it on behalf of “a relative”. 
2. That the “relative” had “lost” the key.
3. Combined with the “too good to be true price.”

All just scream “stolen.” The only thing that could make the deal even more dodgy would be if the VIN number had been scratched off as well, and we don’t know that that wasn’t the case. And the buyer should have gotten wise to the fact that the bike was hot and walked away. But they were likely so blinded by the deal they were getting that they didn’t care and were willing to turn a blind eye to the bike’s origin.

But too good to be true is too good to be true for a reason, and if the bike is recovered, the buyer will learn an important lesson as they are left to recover the money from that bargain price they paid from the seller.

Police have the messages and the neighbor's information. What I'm confused about is the buyer. If they genuinely paid for it believing it belonged to him, can they refuse to give it back?

Also is selling somebody else's vehicle like this treated as theft or is there some weird abandoned property issue I'm missing?

Location: Texas