76 STAT.]
PUBLIC LAW 87-691-SEPT. 25, 1962
589
Public Law 87-691 AN ACT September 25, 1962 To aiueiid provisions of law relating to personal property coming into the [s. 3317] custody of the property clerk, Metropolitan Police Department, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 413 of the Revised Statutes of the United States relating to the District of Columbia, as amended (sec. 4-156, D.C. Code, 1961 edition), is amended by adding thereto the following subsection: "(e) Whenever the owner of property in the custody of the property clerk has been notified by the property clerk, by registered or certified mail, to take possession of such property within thirty days after the date of mailing of such notification, and such owner fails so to do within such period, such property shall be thereafter treated as other unclaimed, abandoned, or lost property and shall be disposed of as provided in section 417 of this chapter: Provided, That if, in the opinion of the property clerk, such property has no salable value, and if within thirty days after the date of mailing such notification such property is not reclaimed by its owner and removed by him from the custody of the property clerk, such property shall be disposed of by destruction or otherwise, as the Commissioners of the District of Columbia by regulation or order shall provide." SEC. 2. Section 416 of the Revised Statutes of the United States relating to the District^of Columbia, as amended (sec. 4-159, D.C. Code, 1961 edition), is amended to read as follows: "SEC. 416, (a) All property or money taken on suspicion of having been feloniously obtained, or of being the proceeds of crime, and for which there is no other claimant than the person from whom such property was taken, and all lost property coming into possession of any member of the police force, and all property and money taken from pawnbrokers as the proceeds of crime or from persons alleged to be insane, intoxicated, or otherwise incapable of taking care of themselves, shall be transmitted as soon as practicable to the property clerk to be fully registered and advertised for the benefit of all parties interested, and for the information of the public as to the amount and disposition of the property so taken into custody by the police. " (b)(1) Whenever any money or property of a deceased person of a value of less than $1,000 coming into the custody of the property clerk shall remain in his custody for a period of six months or more without being claimed and repossessed by the next of kin or the legal representative of such deceased person, such money or property shall be disposed of as lost or abandoned property as provided in section 417 of this chapter: Provided, That prior to the disposition of such property of a deceased person it shall be the duty of the property clerk to ascertain whether there is pending in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia any petition seeking the appointment of a legal representative of such deceased person, and, if such a petition is pending in such court, the property clerk shall not dispose of such property until final disposition by thei court of such petition: Provided further. That in any case where the property clerk acquires actual knowledge that a petition for the appointment of a legal representative of such deceased person has been filed or is pending in a court outside of the District of Columbia, the property clerk shall not dispose of such property until final disposition by the court of such petition. " (b)(2) Whenever any money or property of a deceased person shall be of a value of $1,000 or more and shall have remained in the
D. c. p^ice°Depfr" Personal prop^'55 Stat. iss.
Post, p. 591.
Feloniously obtained property.
Deceased persons' property.
post, p. 591.
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