Beckley, WV (WOAY) – The Raleigh County Sheriff’s Office is receiving money from firearms seized in criminal cases and auctioned off by the state.
State Treasurer Larry Pack visited the sheriff’s office Thursday to present a check for $2,006.24. Pack said the funds trace back to guns pulled from cases across West Virginia. His office takes possession of the firearms once cases close and the weapons cannot be returned to their owners, then sells them through auctions to federally licensed dealers.
“Once a case is over, if they have any guns that they cannot, for whatever reason, return to the rightful owner, we work with them. We pick up those guns in the Treasurer’s office,” Pack said. “We auction them off to federally licensed gun dealers.”
Sheriff Frank Priddy said the money will go toward new firearms for the department’s incoming deputies.
“That means we don’t have to pull money from our budget to make those purchases,” Priddy said. “And it really helps us.”
