Unclaimed items to be auctioned

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Town of Strathmore’s Municipal Enforcement department are hosting an auction of seized and unclaimed items that were handed over from the local RCMP detachment.

Manager of municipal enforcement with the Town of Strathmore, Claudette Thorhaug said although it has been a few years since the last auction, it’s worth a shot to do again after the success of the last one.

“Over the last couple of years, because it hasn’t happened since 2019 I believe, just with COVID, all the items seized … that were found on somebody that may or may not have been charged with something –

 proceeds of crime, basically – they weren’t able to get the items back to the owners, or they went unclaimed,” said Thorhaug. “So, these items go up for auction, we pick two charities and we split the proceeds between them. This year I reached out to (Strathmore Regional) Victim Services and the Pregnancy Care Center.”

Thorhaug said there are over 100 items sent over from the RCMP to Municipal Enforcement for the silent auction to help raise funds to give back to the community. The collection largely consists of tools such as drills, bolt cutters, generators and other similar implements which had been found on people attempting criminal activity. There are also some more unique or non-standard items that will be up for grabs.

“It’s just a lot of things. There’s even a wedding ring … there was a whole bunch of windows that were stolen that will be in the auction as well,” said Thorhaug. 

Rightful owners to an item will have an opportunity to reclaim their belongings, so long as they can prove such items are theirs by providing evidence such as a serial number.

Many of the items are being grouped together to be sold as lots. Others will be sold as individual items. Bidders can test the articles for sale, they will be sold in silent auction format and there will be no refunds, purchases will include the item sold as-is.

The previous iteration of the auction was hosted in 2019 at Origin Brewing & Malting and people could bid on items within a certain time frame. Over $12,000 was raised for local charities during the event.

This year’s auction will be hosted in Kinsmen Park on Sept. 10, at the same time as the Farm and Flea market. Folks are free to come down and browse items from 10 a.m. until noon, and bidding will be open until 2 p.m. that day. Items will then have to be picked up before 3 p.m.

“It’s basically just five hours … and all the items obviously, are as-is. I’ve never tested them and I can’t guarantee them,” said Thorhaug. 

For articles such as electric drills and the like, outlets and generators will be provided for interested parties to examine the articles for sale.