State and City of Parkersburg officials hold a check for $16,149 presented by West Virginia Treasurer Larry Pack to the Parkersburg Police Department Tuesday at the Municipal Building. (Photo by Amber Phipps)

PARKERSBURG — The Parkersburg Police Department received a $16,149 unclaimed property funds check from the West Virginia State Treasurer’s Office Tuesday.

The check for funds received in a firearms auction was presented to city police Chief Matthew Board by state Treasurer Larry Pack at the Municipal Building.

Pack said the state works with local law enforcement to help clean their evidence rooms. Guns that were used in closed cases and can’t be returned to an individual lawfully are auctioned to licensed dealers and organizations.

“We sell to licensed gun dealers and the money we get back we give to our local police departments,” said Pack. “We earned about half a million dollars last year.”

He said the money helps police departments statewide with their budgets.

West Virginia State Treasurer Larry Pack shakes Parkersburg Police Chief Matthew Board’s hand while holding the $16,149 check from the treasurer’s office on Tuesday. (Photo by Amber Phipps)

“We’re always doing pickups and then whenever we feel like we have enough to have an auction we put something together,” Pack said.

The program began under state Treasurer John Perdue when he was in office a few years ago and has expanded since then.

“We have two retired state troopers that run that program inside of our office, and they work really closely with local law enforcement to go through different things in the evidence rooms,” said Pack.

Board said the money can be used for many different things in the department based on their current needs and budget.

“We’ll use the money for either equipment or training,” he said. “We’ll set aside this money after collaboration and brainstorming to see what we can obtain.”

Board said the department analyzes what areas the money would benefit the most.

“I’m happy to have the ability to have those options,” he said. “It’s truly a blessing to be able to participate in this program with the treasurer’s office.”

According to a release from the treasurer’s office, the Parkersburg Police Department sold 122 firearms during an online auction in February.

There were a total of 527 firearms from 19 law enforcement agencies across the state in that auction. The winning bid of $82,299.10 was placed by a federally licensed dealer in Georgia. More than 18 bids were submitted by dealers across 10 states, according to the release.

In the year 2025, the treasurer’s office sold 2,347 unclaimed firearms in multiple in-person and online auctions.

More information about the program is available online at wvtreasury.gov.

Amber Phipps can be reached at aphipps@newsandsentinel.com