More than $10,000 in unclaimed property has been presented to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department following the State Treasurer’s Office’s September firearms auction.

Assistant Treasurer of Records and Security Mike Comer joined Jackson County Sheriff Ross Mellinger and Chief Deputy Eric Cullen on Thursday, October 10th for a check presentation at the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department in Ripley.

The check, valued at $10,684.50, comes from the more than $176,000 raised at the firearms auction in Charleston last month. The auction benefited 18 participating law enforcement agencies, including the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department – upholding the previous record of more than $141,000 raised during the March 2023 firearms auction.

“It’s great to be a part of this, to administer this program and to see the benefits to help equip agencies and their mission of keeping the community safe,” Comer said. “It’s great to come back to my home county to see these guys I used to work with and be a part of it.”

Sheriff Mellinger said the department turned over some of their used firearms to be auctioned off during last month’s event.

“These are weapons that are from suicides, murders, crimes in which they were convicted felons and can no longer possess them. They ultimately get turned over to unclaimed property,” Sheriff Mellinger said. “Our opportunities to generate extra funds are very limited, so this type of a program is more impactful for a department of our size than some of the bigger ones.”

The funding will go toward law enforcement education at the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department.

“This will go to our new training center, a new multimillion-dollar facility, our new range and new classrooms,” Sheriff Mellinger said. “This will go toward installing the turf.”

During last month’s 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.

State Treasurer Riley Moore recently announced his 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 $435 million worth of unclaimed property listings in its database.

“I am proud my Office continues to support law enforcement agencies across our great state,” Treasurer Moore said. “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.”

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.