That kinda reminds me of something that happened to a friend of mine- he recovered his own bike, stolen about six months before, one night after he left work. He was walking to a bar a couple of blocks away when he spotted a transient sound asleep on the grass in front of a car dealership and hugging his missing bike (the ridiculous paint job was unmistakeable). He woke him up and gave him the choice: surrender the bike or he'd call the cops on his cell phone. The bum agreed, said there was no need to involve the cops, and shuffled off.