Repossession Rights

[shutto79]

My husband bought a vehicle from a guy that he works from. The guy (I'll call him John) was supposed to sell him the vehicle in exchange for work and cash. My husband worked and earned $220 which John applied to the vehicle. The total purchase price of the vehicle was $400. John never gave us title to the vehicle and allowed my husband to drive it with his tags and on his insurance. I guess he was going to give him the title when it was all paid for. The van broke down on my husband on the way to work one morning and we had to have it towed, have the thermostat replaced, put new brake pads, a new disc, and a new calibrator on the van. This totalled over $200 in parts. John came by our home about 5 days ago and asked about what we owed on the van. I talked to him about the repairs and the work my husband had done for him. I told him that we would pay the balance and insurance for the month when my husband got paid. He said that was fine. Well, 3 days ago my husband got into the van and the plates were gone, John admitted that he took them in the middle of the night. We had no notice of this and no way to get plates in our name as John had never given us the title. This morning I was leaving for work and the van was gone. John had come in the middle of the night and "repoed" the van. The only way he could have gotten the van out of our driveway was to have moved my vehicle. John now refuses to return any of the wages that were applied to the vehicle, any of the cost of repairs, and is also in possession of my husband's property that was in the van (this includes over $500 of welding equipment, credit cards, and a cell phone). We don't know if he took the van to his home or somewhere else. My husband spoke with John and he said that he would leave my husband's property "somewhere". I spoke with John about the property and now he is claiming there is damage to the van. This is a work van that is over 15 years old, has no air conditioning, no backseat, and my husband had it less than 1 month. He said that he would not return any of the money that we had given him towards the van and that his lawyer told him not to talk to us. He refused to give me the name of his lawyer and hung up on me. I just need to know if there is any legal recourse that we have to recover the property and any of the money. I live in Virginia.