Sheriff’s Office launches online found property site

Countless items, such as numerous bicycles, power tools, toolboxes, jewelry, cell phones, even decorative swords and a refrigerator are housed in the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office Evidence Unit. All these items have one thing in common; they have lost their owners.

According to PCSO Evidence Technician Valorie Townsend, more than 300 lost or stolen items find their way into the Evidence Unit every year, and their rightful owners claim only about six percent of those items. PCSO holds found property 90 days before it is destroyed.

Now citizens have another way to reclaim their property: the Found Property site on the Pinal County Sheriff’s Web site. The site has easily navigable photographs of property with assigned numbers. If a citizen believes he or she has identified a piece of property, they can call the PCSO Evidence Unit at (520) 866-5181.

Callers will need the number from the photograph, a serial number if available, and case-specific information, so the property can be identified as theirs. The Web site will be updated frequently with more property to be added in the near future.

“It is important for the Sheriff’s Office to make every effort possible to return lost, stolen and found property to its rightful owner,” Townsend said. “Many times property is stolen and then abandoned in the desert or along the sidewalks of neighborhoods and then turned in as found property.”

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