HAS ANYONE ELSE READ ABOUT THIS?

How it did not show up as stolen when they tried to register the car is a mystery.

To help prevent issues like these because the people in many government departments suck a$$ at their job, we should document many of the things we do with our cars. We do repairs and modify things sometimes, keep a record on that, put it on vinwiki or the forums. Create a record that you can give to investigators and make car communities and sites that list used cars aware when the vehicle was stolen.