State Treasurer Riley Moore on Thursday presented Kanawha County Schools officials with a donation of more than $10,000 worth of tools to the county’s Vo-Tech schools – tools provided by the Charleston Metro Drug Unit and turned over through the state’s Unclaimed Property program.
“We’re proud to partner with law enforcement to use our state’s Unclaimed Property laws to take items that were once used in nefarious activities that harmed our communities and turn it into an investment that will benefit local youth,” Treasurer Moore said. “I want to thank the officers of Charleston’s Metro Drug Unit for working with our Office to turn these tools over to Kanawha County Schools.”
Treasurer Moore presented the tools to Kanawha County Schools administrators, faculty and staff Thursday morning. The tools will soon be used by students at Ben Franklin Career Center and Carver Career Center.
“We are grateful for the donation and know that it will support student learning in many of our career center programs,” said Kanawha County Schools’ Dr. George Aulenbacher, Assistant Superintendent of High Schools and Career and Technical Schools. “Access to additional tools for real-world learning is always appreciated by students and staff, and this donation will make a difference at both Ben Franklin Career Center and Carver Career Center.”
The tools donation is made possible through the state’s unclaimed property laws, which authorize the State Treasurer and local law enforcement agencies to donate any unclaimed stolen property in police possession – excluding firearms and ammunition – to nonprofit organizations.
The tools in this case had been seized during the prosecution of a dealer who had purchased them with money from their drug trade and police could not return them to the defendant. They had been sitting in a storage area following the disposition of the case.
According to the law, after the stolen property has been determined to have no evidentiary value and has been held by a law enforcement agency for six months, if the rightful owner has either not come forward or the agency determines there is no likelihood it can be returned to a rightful owner, the Treasurer may authorize the donation of the property to a nonprofit organization that can make use of it.
Last August, the State Treasurer’s Office worked with the Fairmont Police Department to donate $9,600 worth of clothing taken during a fraud case and donate those goods to the Hope, Inc. domestic violence shelter in Marion County.
“We want to encourage all law enforcement agencies around the state that might have similar items in storage to reach out to our Office to find a worthwhile use for them in their community,” Treasurer Moore said.
The tools donation to the local vocational programs also had special meaning for Treasurer Moore, who recently launched the Jumpstart Savings Program to help students pursuing a career in skilled vocations and trades to save for future jobs.
“As a former welder, I know the importance of building up our blue-collar workforce in West Virginia,” Treasurer Moore said. “These are well-paying jobs that are in high demand, so it’s great to be able to make this investment to better train and equip students going into these trades.”