Anyone can go to the California DMV and change the title into your name, provided they have the original title signed by the previous owner. I have done this for a friend. You will need an address in CA to have the title mailed to you.
Once you have the title there are side roads at Paso Canoas that allow you to get the bike out of Panama and into C.R. without going through the Aduana on the Panama side. You will need to go to Panamanian immigration, but you can park your bike and just walk up to the window. Then ride the back streets into C.R., go to the C.R. Aduana and do the C.R. import paperwork. C.R. Aduana does not check if the bike has been checked out of Panama. From there, you can ride north.
I'm not sure what will happen if you try to re-enter Panama with the bike. They may be able to see from the VIN that the bike was previously imported and not cleared. But you can claim ignorance and blame the previous owner for not clearing the old TIP.
The previous owner can leave via airplane. At the airport there is no immigration check on departing passengers.
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