$500 Invoice From The Fire Dept For An Accident I Was Not Involved In

Location: Riverside county, California.

Some background; In 2024 I bought and owned a motorcycle for a few months, a CBR, with the acknowledgement that it had a history of being stolen and then recovered.

About four months into owning it I get a visit from a cop around 2am at my home who knew my name, and asked about the bike and if I owned it. I said yes. The cop asked if I knew it was in an accident about an hour and a half away from my home. Immediately I run to my garage with a pit in my stomach expecting it to not be there any more. Sure enough the bike is there, I open the garage, obliged the cop to look at it and verify that the bike was the one he described. Without saying much else he pretty much scratches his head and leaves.

Fast forward a month, I receive an invoice from an impound lot for my bike, license plate and vin match my bike. I call them, explain what happened with the police, and I ask the lot to check the Vin on the bike they brought in. They said they would. The lot never called or mailed me after that. Figured I was in the clear, like an idiot I never pressed the matter.

A few more months later, I sell the bike to a friend of mine, explained what happened and with that knowledge he was still more than happy to buy the bike. Unrelated, the bike was stolen from him while he was at work.

Fast forward to now; two years later, I receive an invoice from the fire department, that I was made to sign by the mailman, for 500 dollars in fees from whatever trucks they brought out, apparently the individual who stole the bike originally previously years ago stole the plates, used them on the mystery bike that was impounded, then fled the scene. It all traced back to me, and the invoice implied that I was involved in a reckless accident and I was found at fault and I'm being made out to pay.

This mail arrived to me on the weekend and I haven't called them yet, but is there any proof I might need to resolve this issue? The incident occurred years ago and im not sure how many records I have that I can use to prove my case.

There is the individual I sold it to, the police encounter, and the impound lot. Im not sure if they would have kept anything on record though. I doubt it'll be as simple as explaining to the fire dept over the phone but if that's the case, I'd be very happy.

To be clear this is Riverside fire that mailed me the invoice.

Does it happen often that police dont actually verify the Vin of the vehicle in these kinds of situations?