Tricky Theft Situation

I bought goods from Facebook Marketplace place for $400. The cops and the person I purchased them from reached out a couple days after to inform me that they were stolen.

The person who the goods originally were stolen from decided not to press charges as long as they received their goods back.

We scheduled time for me to return them at the police station and to be reimbursed for what I paid from the seller. The seller no-showed however I still returned to goods. I then filled out a police report as I was now the new victim out the $400 I spent.

5 months went by without any updates and I was now informed that my case was never actually opened as they cops were struggling to identify a crime. Since the original victim never pressed charges, the cop informed me that my case would have to be a civil one.

I'm still glad the original victim got their stuff back however, I feel incredibly frustrated as I'm the only person in this situation that actually got screwed over. I effectively paid $400 to return someone else's goods to them.

Is there anything I can do, or any recommendations for civil cases against such a small (but annoying) amount of money?