Funding Comes from Last Month’s Firearms Auction

State Treasurer Riley Moore today announced the Southern Regional Drug and Violent Crimes Task Force will receive an unclaimed property check worth more than $29,000 from the Office’s Firearms Auction held in September.

“It’s imperative that the brave men and women who serve in our state’s law enforcement have sufficient funding to purchase safety and training equipment,” Treasurer Moore said. “I am proud my Office’s firearms auction will benefit agencies like the Southern Regional Drug and Crimes Task Force to ensure our citizens across West Virginia are safe.”

The check, valued at $29,112.50, will be used to purchase new, modern safety equipment including recording/surveillance devices and other technology.

“This additional funding will provide an opportunity to purchase cutting edge covert equipment to help combat the drug problem in West Virginia,” said Sgt. L. Price with the Southern Regional Drug and Crimes Task Force, which is comprised of members of the West Virginia State Police, Bluefield Police Department, and Mercer County, McDowell County and Wyoming County Sheriff’s Departments.

Treasurer Moore recently announced that his Office’s firearms auction in September raised more than $176,000 to benefit the 18 participating law enforcement agencies, including the Southern Regional Drug and Crimes Task Force – upholding the previous record of more than $141,000 raised during the March 2023 firearms auction.

There were more than 300 lots consisting of 627 firearms and 300 pounds of ammunition up for bid, making it the largest inventory for the firearms auction in Office history.

The Treasurer’s Office set a new monthly record for the highest amount of unclaimed property returned to individuals, businesses and organizations in September. The Office’s Unclaimed Property Division returned nearly $6.2 million to rightful owners during the month.

The Treasurer’s Office has more than $434 million worth of unclaimed property listings in its database.

“I want to encourage individuals and other organizations to keep checking our unclaimed property database because you never know if there may be unclaimed funds in your name,” Treasurer Moore said.

For more information about the unclaimed property program or to find out if the Office is holding any money for you or your family, visit www.WVUnclaimedProperty.gov.

What is Unclaimed Property?

Unclaimed property can include financial accounts or items of value in which the owner has not initiated any activity for one year or longer. Common examples include unpaid life insurance benefits, forgotten bank accounts and unused rebate cards. (While the title includes the word “property,” it does not however include real estate.)

West Virginia’s unclaimed property laws protect the public by ensuring money and property owed to them is returned to them, rather than remaining permanently with financial institutions, business associations, governments and other entities. The Treasurer seeks to reunite the unclaimed property, including uncashed paychecks, stocks, or safe deposit box contents, with its owner.

Nationwide, nearly 33 million people in the United States – one in every 10 – are estimated to have unclaimed property available for them to claim.

How Can I Find Unclaimed Property in My Name? 

West Virginians searching for lost financial assets can go to www.WVUnclaimedProperty.gov. In addition to finding property, the website will also help you track a claim.

A demonstration of how to use the Unclaimed Property search site is available on the Treasury’s YouTube page, at: https://youtu.be/K09yQ7YNKlE.

To search for lost financial assets outside West Virginia, visit www.MissingMoney.com.