Been enjoying the nice weather so I'm a little slow to respond.
A couple comments.

The fork crown was chromed.
The red primer isn't original, it is over the chrome where chrome remains.
Photos of shifter bosses are attached.

To the best of my knowledge, there is not a criminal element in Rochester that targets expensive bikes. The repaint on this bike is amateurish, but far more work( remove chrome, prime and repaint) than Rochester bike thieves go to: With them it's steal, maybe spray, then ride or sell. In our shop when a person in street shoes and clothes rides in on an expensive bike with clipless pedals, we inform them that we suspect the bike was stolen at some point and will not work on it. We do not accuse the rider because they may have bought it from the thief. We tell them to check with the police to see if the owner reported the theft. Multiple jurisdictions and failure to register bikes makes reunification very unlikely even if the rider does check. I have checked a few expensive bikes that we have picked up as donations from bikes drives, colleges, etc with national registries and none have been reported stolen.

We had an instance where the rider of a mongrelized Merlin (but still with a beautiful frame) worked with us and came back several times until we located the original owner via bike shop records. She had claimed the theft on her insurance five years prior and was impressed enough with the young man's honesty to tell him to keep the bike. We had two instances of volunteers who were reunited with their hybrid bikes when the the bikes came in for repair. No problems with the riders. A gentleman returned an electric bike that was stolen from our shop too.

Was this Paramount ever stolen? I think we will never know. meanwhile the lack of a SN on the frame and swapped dropouts precludes a firm ID. The fork could have been from another bike.
Still the question: is this dented frame worth salvage and a powder coat? Sale as-is?