While I was in jail myself for a 10 year old misdameaner I had heart failure. Had a triple by pass. During this time my son accuired a mechanics lean agaist my tahoe and sold it. Along with everything I owned, 56 inch flat screen TV, couple of portable dvd player, my father and widowed wife's rings he bought to the pawn shop. Used my credit card without my permission,took my motorcycle out of my storage container and rode it when he felt like. I don't think they thought ii was going to make it through the surgery. This all happened around dec. Been in and out of the hosp, plus I'm on workmens comp for an injury at work since last march. How long do I have to file charges? Great kids huh. Came out with the cloths on my back and about 300 dollars.

You do not file charges, you report the crime to police and they decide if there is enough to press charges.

While in jail who was responsible for watching your belongings ?

How did your son get a lien against your car if you didn't owe him money?
Family financial fiascos are usually tangled. Everybody owes everybody, and it's difficult to sort out. Except for fraudulent use of a credit card.

Contrary to what the phrase suggests, a "mechanic's lien" is only applied against real property (not vehicles) and must be reduced to judgment before it can be enforced by the sale of property. So the son could not have sold a vehicle by virtue of a mechanic's line.

What do you want to do here? Do you want your son prosecuted for theft? Or do you want to sue him to recover the value of your belongings? Or both?

If you want to have him prosecuted for theft report it to the police. If you want to try to recover, then you file suit against him.

In either case, if this happened in Dec 2012 you should be with Statue of Limitations.