Property Rights: How Do I Obtain Stolen Property My Ex Took As I Was Moving Out in California

I was living with my boyfriend for about a year and a half and he became VERY abusive. About 3 months ago he began to get worse and started threatening me to move out. I had a friend come stay the night because I was afraid to be alone in the house with him. The next day he went to work and started threatening me if I didn't move out he would start throwing my things out. So my friend and I began to pack my things, with no idea where I would be going, but knowing my safety was more important. During my packing I found the Xbox I had bought for us during Christmas time. I had been asking him for over a week where he had taken it because I wanted to make sure my credit card information was removed from it because he put it onto his account. He wouldn't tell me. I think that he must have realized that if I began to pack my things I would find it, because that is exactly what happened. Knowing he did not remove my credit card information and he never would and since I had spent over $600 on it for both of us, I put it in my friends car. He came home on his lunch break getting very aggressive and violent asking where it was. I ignored him and kept packing my things. He then proceeded to unplug his TV and removed it from the room, I knew that if he was doing that he would do the same to my 40" LED Samsung flat screen. I went into the living room and he was doing exactly that. His parents lived next door, so he took it over there. I asked him for it back but he refused to return it to me. Because he was getting so violent my friend suggested I call a police officer to make sure he didn't do anything to us. When the police officer arrived I informed him about my tv he took, the police officer advised that I need to just worry about my safety and try to leave as quickly as possible and worry about the tv later. So I did exactly that. The next month was very rough emotionally and trying to get adjusted to living with strangers. I had asked him about the tv but he would always avoid the question, he would come in and out of my life by emailing/texting me he missed me and then telling me he hated me and never wanted to see me again. It took me until now to somewhat heal from the trauma he had caused me. I will be moving into my own place now and would like my tv he stole back. I took my dad with me to his house to request it back and he said it was his, that he bought it. What really happened was I was working and gave him my credit card to purchase it for me. He never bought it, just used my card to buy it for me. But in his mind he bought it and then said I bought it for us and since I took the Xbox, the tv is his.

My question is, do I have any right to the tv since I bought it? It's been 3 months, has it been too long? I have the receipt for both the Xbox and the tv. When I asked a Sherriff about it, he said there is no way for them to prove that I didn't give him the tv or he didn't give me money to put into my account to buy it because we were living together. He was unemployed for several months and I was the one paying all of the bills. I was told by the Sherriff to take him to small claims, but my ex told me I will spend more doing that than the tv is worth and then proceeded to tell me he could buy a tv 4x's better than mine, but he won't give it back to me. Do I have any rights here?

Property Rights: How Do I Obtain Stolen Property My Ex Took As I Was Moving Out in California