A total of $89,791 in unclaimed monies accumulated by Ceres Police for the last three years will fund two new vehicles to be used by street crime investigators.

CPD has had several cases in which money was left unclaimed for more than three years. The money was collected either through the course of a criminal investigation as evidence, taken as safekeeping, or turned into the department as found property. The California Government Code allows the city to keep the funds if unclaimed for more than three years after public notification in a local newspaper. The city posted a notice in the May 15 and 22 editions of the Courier and on the City of Ceres Police Department’s website May 9-29.

The monies taken ran from a high of $14,000 in one case to $120 in another. The higher amount was cash seized in arrests of illegal drug transactions. The cash was booked into evidence until the statute of limitations ran out.