Press the charges.

BTW... if the pawn shop has been following the rules, then they will be unscathed in this. I don't know about other states, but around here the shops operate under the good faith policy (good faith that the goods aren't stolen) as long as they report all of the serial numbers to the police. If the goods are later found to be stolen, the pawn shop is legally innocent of receiving stolen goods.

That said... running a pawn shop is usually just a sneaky legalized way of accepting stolen goods. I worked at a pawn shop when I was younger, and trust me... these pawn shop owners can smell stolen goods when they walk in the door. They just know how to get away with buying and selling them without going to jail.

Ways to protect your property and MAYBE get it back:

• Record your serial numbers. This is the only way that you have much hope of recovering your bike. Descriptions mean little or nothing to the police as they look at their lists. They will not make the connection when they see your bike listed as "Light Blue Bianchi". They need to see "Blue Bianchi bicycle Ser # 123456". Many pawn brokers depend on the fact that people cannot supply the serial numbers in their descriptions... and that makes it nearly impossible to match goods with owners.
• Report the serial numbers to the police immediately. If you wait two or three weeks to get your bike in their lists... then it's prolly too late.
• Search the local pawn shops early and often. Even though you notify the police of the theft, you must do your own leg work. One of the tricks that a less then honest shop will use is to wait until the last possible minute to send the serial info to the police. Knowing how busy the police are with other things, if the police even match the numbers... chances are your bike will already be long gone.

You were lucky to find your bike... congratulations!