I Accidentally Bought a Stolen iPhone; Help Needed

backstory, skip if like: college student buying new iphone 5s. last thursday, bought a, unbeknownst me, stolen iphone guy off craigslist. before went, check bunch of websites ensure wasn't stolen. went at&t ensure imei wasn't blacklisted , spent 30 minutes researching see if stolen. came clear. went dorm activated sim , start enjoying phone. start process , come icloud activation lock, impossible past nor want stolen iphone. after found out stolen, saw icould provided number call. thought, "great, may have been scammed, maybe can person phone back". called number , went voicemail box wasn't set couldn't leave message. called 4 times hour between each call. decided maybe can go at&t , give them imei , can call account holder, did next day. went on , couldn't pull information off imei, gave on that. went dorms , looked @ few videos showed bypass icloud lock , email address locked to. tried hour no luck because iphone on 8.0.2. during time, decided plug iexplorer, on normal iphone lets see contacts. thought maybe there contact named "mom" or "dad" , call number. well, didn't work because phone wiped, got phone number tied iccid/ iphone. decided call number because if previous owner might have gotten new phone , number go phone. called , went straight voicemail, think means owner hasn't gotten new phone yet. well, great, no progress. but, had idea go at&t store, give them number, , call account holder's, did. got voicemail box , left message. so, @ point, ready give , return police, talked parents first. told me had focused lot of energy on contacting old owner, person may not want phone anymore or may have got insurance money.

so here question: there anyway can legally own phone or money out of phone? mother suggested turn on police , if goes unclaimed ask them contact me before unclaimed property action , may give , write me recipe states property. recipe, go apple , have unlock it. father suggested send certified letter address on file at&t (i write letter , have them mail after paid postage never customer's information). wait thirty days after confirmed delivery , call phone mine. ultimately, need prove phone mine apple possibly disable activation lock.
suggestions great. money out of phone or have working phone because have tried hard return phone owner.

tl;dr: bought iphone , have been trying return phone no luck. college student , money or have working phone in legal way. need suggestions on do. thank time.

 

you're pretty out of luck. there's no legal way of owning stolen property.

 

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