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Cash and stock worth more than $400,000 was found for people attending the 2008 Oklahoma State Fair in Oklahoma City, State Treasurer Scott Meacham announced today. The money was found for fair patrons who visited the treasurer's ''Pot of Gold'' booth in the Cox Pavilion.
As administrator of Oklahoma's unclaimed property program, Meacham has more than $260 million for more than 350,000 people.
The more than $400,000 was found for some 500 fair attendees. Workers with laptop computers conducted more than 5,500 searches during this year's fair. This was the eighth consecutive year the office operated the booth at the state fair.
The largest amount found this year was more than $54,000 in unclaimed oil and gas royalties for three brothers in Oklahoma City.
''People who didn't make it by our booth can visit us starting later this week at the Tulsa State Fair, or they can search for their names on our online database at <a href=''http://www.treasurer.ok.gov''>www.treasurer.ok.gov</a>,'' Meacham said. ''More than 5,600
fair patrons in Oklahoma City have found almost $1.9 million during the last eight years.''
Since becoming state treasurer in June of 2005, Meacham has put an increased emphasis on reuniting Oklahomans with their unclaimed property and, as a result, unclaimed property totaling more than $45 million has been returned to more than 50,000 Oklahomans.
Examples of unclaimed property include bank accounts, security deposits, old paychecks, overpayments, royalties, rebates, stock and bonds. The contents of abandoned safe deposit boxes are also included.
The cash and property are turned over to the State Treasurer's office when the businesses holding them lose track of the owners. Treasurer Meacham's Unclaimed Property Division then publishes the names, operates
an online search engine at <a href=''http://www.treasurer.ok.gov''>www.treasurer.ok.gov</a> and conducts other outreach, such as booths at the two major state fairs, to help find the owners.