MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — The Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office will get a check for more than $10,000.00 from the West Virginia State Treasurers Office after efforts to streamline evidence has cleared out items from forty years ago.
Sheriff Nathan Harmon says Evidence Technician, Sgt. Adam Boothby streamlined evidence, reclaiming, and auctioning efforts and that allowed them to send more than 100 items ranging from guns, ammunition, jewelry, and knives to the State Treasurer’s office as “Unclaimed Property”.
The sale of those items netted a check for $10,845.00 for the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office, which Harmon says will be used for a “lasting and positive impact for the community.”
Sgt. Boothby received a letter of Commendation from the sheriff for his work in the effort.
Sheriff Harmon says when he took office, there was evidence from the 1980s, firearms from the 1990s, and other evidence he said went back at least a couple of decades.
Items that the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Department sends to the State Treasurer’s are documented to demonstrate the case has been adjudicated and that a “disposal” order from the Prosecutor’s Office has been received. Certified letters are sent out to owner’s address before Sgt. Boothby sends them to the State Treasurer’s Office.
Sgt. Boothby incorporated the SAFE Tracker System and other systems in the evidence room, which Sheriff Harmon says makes logging evidence more efficient. He spearheaded efforts to allow the prosecuting attorney’s office direct controlled access to the tracking system and created better ways to identify and log cases as they go through adjudication.
“As a department we constantly strive to improve our services by giving our men and women the ability and capability to their jobs as efficient as possible. That’s the easy part, the harder part is finding a person with the instilled passion and dedication to take the helm of a specific task, put their best foot forward and make a program into something better than when they found it. Sgt. Boothby was that person,” Harmon says.
The check presentation had been scheduled for Wednesday but had to be postponed due to a scheduling conflict.
