Into the vault of the treasury

Treasure hunters and history buffs would be in heaven if they were ever given the opportunity to tour the Pennsylvania Treasury vault.

Behind several layers of security, and after taking a ride down to the basement of the Treasury Building on an antique Stiltz-style elevator with a rotary telephone in case of an emergency, the largest operating vault in the United States presents itself like its own self-contained steel building.

The vault that houses unclaimed property of Pennsylvania residents was built in 1939, using more than 400 tons of steel at a cost of $600,000; that's $13 million in today's economy. The door to the vault alone weighs 60 tons.

Pennsylvania defines unclaimed property as uncashed checks, forgotten bank accounts, old retirement accounts, items stored in abandoned safe deposit boxes and old insurance policies. The unclaimed property department also receives items from police departments evidence lockers throughout the state. Unclaimed property arrives on an almost daily basis at the treasury building. According to workers in the vault, items are added to the state's unclaimed property website list on a quarterly basis.

According to the Pennsylvania Treasurer's office, there is more than $4.5 billion waiting to be claimed and one in 10 Pennsylvania residents is owed unclaimed property and the average claim amount is $1,600.

Pennsylvania State Treasurer Stacy Garrity, a Sayre Native, was particularly proud of the record set this fiscal year. Under Garrity's leadership a total of $273.7 million was returned to its rightful owners during the state's 2022-2023 fiscal year. On top of that number, during Garrity's first two years in office, the unclaimed property department has also returned more than $16 million to local Pennsylvania governing bodies including boroughs, townships, counties, and school districts.

After graduating from Sayre High School, Stacy earned a degree in finance and economics from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania and later received a certificate from the Cornell University Business Management Institute. Garrity has remained committed to her local community serving on the board of the Bradford County United Way and also a trustee of Gutherie Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre.

Military Decorations

As a military veteran, Garrity has made it one of her primary focuses to return as many of the thousands of military decorations stored safely in the Treasury's vault to their rightful owners or the veterans' families. The medals and decorations usually come to the Treasury from forgotten safety deposit boxes and include dog tags, medals, campaign ribbons, Purple Hearts and even Bronze Stars.

Garrity takes great pride in the fact that she has returned 385 military decorations to the veterans who earned them or to their surviving family members, including the return of six Purple Hearts and three Bronze Stars. The fact that this accomplishment has occurred in less than three years gives Garrity particular satisfaction.

"Every military decoration in the treasury's vault is a symbol of the selfless sacrifice made by a veteran and their family for all of us. It's a true honor to return these decorations and to let my fellow veterans and their families know how much we respect and appreciate their service to our country," said Garrity.

While serving as a colonel in the Army Reserve, Garrity received national attention for her decorated service on the battlefields of Iraq. While negative reports circulated about scandals involving prisoner abuses at other facilities, Garrity was highlighted for her stellar performance as one of the officers in charge of an internment camp for enemy combatants in Iraq. Iraqis dubbed her "the Angel of the Desert" when her service at Camp Bucca in Southern Iraq resulted in a perfect record. She kept the camp secure and American troops safe without a single complaint of abuse from Iraqi soldiers interned there.

Garrity served three deployments in in Iraq, the first in 1991 in Operation Desert Storm, in 2003 in Operation Iraqi Freedom and in 2008 in Operation Enduring Freedom. She was awarded the Bronze Star twice for exceptional service and received the Legion of Merit before retiring from the Army Reserve with the rank of colonel after 30 years of military service.

The vault currently holds one Bronze Star, and unclaimed property staffers are trying to locate the rightful owner of the miliary award.

When the proper owner of military decorations is located, many times Garrity will go in person to return the medals, along with a state proclamation to the veteran or their family.

"We try to coordinate with the local American Legion or Veterans of Foreign War Posts to hold a ceremony to honor the veteran with the presentation," she said.

One of the more memorable and truly meaningful property/military medal returns done by Garrity occurred in May 2022 in Lower Burrell, Pa.

"It was a great honor for me and my team to be able to return Frank Musto's Bronze Star to his sons," said Garrity.

The event to return the medal was held at the Lower Burrell VFW Post 92 and attended by Musto's family and many other military heroes. Musto's family was able to set up a display that included photos and uniforms related to Musto's military service. In addition to the Bronze Star, Garrity's team returned related military decorations, an engraved bullet casing from Musto's military funeral, a black and white photo of the veteran along with several other personal items from a safe deposit box that was received by the state treasury.

"That day and that event made me very proud to represent the State of Pennsylvania and proud to be an American," said Garrity.

"Our goal is always to return unclaimed property to the rightful owners. But even though we have the largest working vault in the United States, we need to have auctions periodically to make room for incoming items. Every piece of unclaimed property we receive is held for at least three years while we work to connect with the rightful owner, and all auction proceeds will remain available for the owner to claim, whether that happens next month or 50 years from now," said Garrity.

According to Garrity, if approved and signed into law, the bill, called "Money Match" would allow Garrity to return some unclaimed property to individuals without putting the burden on citizens to fill out forms.

"The law would allow Treasury to do it to proactively return up to $5,000 for a single owner, individual that's living, as soon as Treasury would confirm and verify the identity through a thorough vetting process," Garrity said.

Garrity says her team knows who some of $4.5 billion that the Treasury is currently sitting on belongs to, but the owners, who may not know they have unclaimed property, have not filed the right forms. Money Match will give her the authority to send out checks directly.

Bradford County

According to Pennsylvania Unclaimed Property records, there are 75,108 properties available to claim in Bradford County with a total dollar value of $7,599,306.87.

"We have tried to make it as easy as possible to submit a claim and my team will work with residents to help get a claim completed," said Garitty.

Garrity also reminds residents to check the state's unclaimed property website each year for new items that get added.

To check for unclaimed property and to file a claim go to patreasury.gov/unclaimedproperty.