West Virginia State Treasurer delivers auction funds to Wood County Sheriff’s Department
Wood County Sheriff Rick Woodyard, left, accepted a check Thursday from West Virginia State Treasurer Larry Pack as the county received $5,078.75 in unclaimed property money from the state from auctions on unclaimed, seized or outdated firearms that are turned over to the treasurer’s office, processed and auctioned off to federally licensed firearm dealers. (Photo by Brett Dunlap)
PARKERSBURG — The Wood County Sheriff’s Department received a check for over $5,000 from the state treasurer’s office for unclaimed, seized or outdated firearms they were able to auction off. State Treasurer Larry Pack was in Ripley on Wednesday and Parkersburg on Thursday to present these checks to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department for $5,333.75 and the Wood County Sheriff’s Department for $5,078.75. State and local law enforcement agencies are allowed to turn over any unclaimed, seized or outdated firearms in their possession to the Treasurer’s Office for auction. These include firearms used in crimes or weapons that are unclaimed because the owner may have passed away, the weapons were originally stolen from their owners and the insurance company was able to pay for them or replace them and more. “After the case is adjudicated, they are able to get rid of the firearms and they give them to us,” Pack said. “We can do all the checks and all the backgrounds and we have an auction. “We sell them to federally licensed firearm dealers and then we take the money from the auction and bring it back to the local police departments.” These include weapons that are older and no longer used by a department, or that have been seized as evidence and sitting in storage rooms for an extended amount of time, Pack’s office reported in a press release. With online capabilities, the firearms can be sold to licensed dealers nationwide. The money received by Jackson County and Wood County were from guns where the cases originated in those areas, Pack said adding the money made from the auctions goes to those departments. The departments can use that money to help with needs that might not be fully covered in their regular budgets. “I’m proud my office is providing our local law enforcement officers with these funds to make necessary improvements to their operations,” Pack said. “Budgets are always tight. “This is a great opportunity to help out these local police departments that help us out every day and protect us. It is a great way to supplement their budgets.” Jackson County Chief Deputy Eric Cullen accepted the check before the Jackson County Commission meeting on Wednesday morning. He said the funding will be used toward facility upgrades, according to the Treasurer’s office press release. “That money that we get from the auction sales helps us tremendously in our budget,” Cullen said. “We’ve got a new training center. I’m sure the funds will go toward that this time around. We just really appreciate all the Treasurer’s Office does for us.” Pack said the program has been going on for five or six years and has been continually growing. It is an option for departments that have firearms that have continually been in storage in their evidence rooms. Pack estimates his office will return around $500,000 to law enforcement departments across the state this year, including police, sheriff’s departments and the West Virginia State Police. “It is becoming a bigger and bigger thing,” he said. “Just about every department in the state of West Virginia has taken advantage of this program.” Woodyard said the money will go into the department’s “Special Law Account” which is used for equipment purchases, supplies and more. They have used the money from that fund to buy gym equipment for a deputy fitness gym at the old 911 center as well as an emergency response/command vehicle. There was also a need to purchase lockers and gun racks to use for storage of weapons that were seized. “When we do seize guns, we want to take care of those until they are returned or disposed of,” Woodyard said. The sheriff said it was nice working with the Treasurer’s Office on this as they handle a lot of the work in processing the weapons, doing the checks and distributing the money back to the departments. “It is nice for us because this is money we do not have in our budgets or it supplements our budget and allows us to buy something we want to buy. It really means a lot to us.” Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com