Record check gives Imperiale the royal treatment  
Released Dec. 17, 2003

      CHARLESTON – Mercer County resident Xavier Imperiale celebrated his 72nd birthday in style, visiting State Treasurer John Perdue’s office Wednesday to collect two unclaimed property checks worth $633,909. One of the checks is the largest in West Virginia history.
      The Bluewell resident turned 72 Wednesday and accepted the historic checks during a news conference at the State Capitol. Perdue led news media members and others in singing “Happy Birthday” to Imperiale, before giving him a cake.
      Perdue, of course, also presented Imperiale with something more valuable. The $630,837 check broke the previous state record of $573,000, issued to an estate in Raleigh County in 2001. Imperiale also received a $3,072 check.
      The value of Imperiale’s checks represents years of uncashed or lost stock dividends. He became separated from the checks for much of the 1980’s, when thieves began stealing them from his mailbox in Florida. He lived there at the time.
       Imperiale told his sister in Mercer County to quit forwarding him the money, in order to avoid the thefts. The nearly 50 companies which represented his stock inheritance still listed his permanent residence as his sister’s home in Bluewell.
 “I told her to hold them for the time being,” said Imperiale, who worked his entire life as a bookkeeper for various food wholesalers. “Before I knew it more and more time went by.”
       Some of Imperiale’s dividends went uncashed for nearly 20 years. Others have been liquidated, according to state law, because no activity had taken place for so long.
       “I’m not too concerned,” Imperiale said of the liquidation, “because it’s a huge amount of money.”
      His sister died earlier this year. Imperiale moved back to Bluewell so he and his brother could settle her estate. Xavier decided to claim his own property at the same time. He had already been in contact with the Treasurer’s Office, which runs an active unclaimed property division.
      “At least it got into good hands,” said Imperiale. “It didn’t get into the hands of thieves, criminals and bad people. The treasurer got it. It’s safe there.”
      Imperiale said he is thinking very seriously of donating the money equally between West Virginia University, Marshall University, Concord College and Bluefield State College. Those plans are still premature, however.
      Perdue said he is thrilled to reunite Imperiale with his money.
      “First off, I want to wish Mr. Imperiale a Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas,” Perdue said. “It is our privilege to reacquaint him with a sizable portion of his inheritance. We take just as seriously, however, recovering smaller amounts for owners.”
      Perdue’s statement is born out by statistics.
      The national average for an unclaimed property check is approximately $100, according to the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators. West Virginia’s average claim is about $200.
      Perdue’s unclaimed property division has returned three checks worth a total of $820,000 since October. In addition to the Mercer County check, the division also found $138,000 for a Morgantown non-profit company serving the mentally and physically handicapped.
      The treasurer’s administration has returned $37.4 million in unclaimed property the past six fiscal years. It generated $83 million in revenue in that six-year period and has returned 72 and 66 percent of property reported as unclaimed the last two fiscal years. Perdue’s administration has returned $24 million worth of property the past three years.
      In the three-year period before Perdue’s January 1997 arrival, the office returned only $6 million worth of property against $13 million in revenue. It returned 22 percent of property submitted as unclaimed during that period.
      Unclaimed property is any asset, excluding real estate, that an individual has failed to claim, whether through simple loss, a move or other means. The property could be, for example, items left behind in a bank safe deposit box, a final paycheck upon leaving a job or security dividends left untouched.
       Perdue acknowledged Unclaimed Property Division Chief Dwight Smith and his staff for their hard work in recovering Imperiale’s funds.
       Imperiale, meanwhile, said he enjoyed the trip to Charleston. He intended to wear a pair of athletic shoes because he anticipated being on his feet for so long.
       “This is the most historic day of my life,” he said.