GLTC employees find missing certificate of deposit

Striking oil. Winning the lottery. Finding buried treasure.

Debbie Evans knows the feeling now.

For more than a year, Evans and her co-workers at the Greater Lynchburg Transit Company have been distressed over the disappearance of a $50,000 certificate of deposit belonging to GLTC’s employee benefits association.

The association leadership said it made repeated inquires but could find no trace of the money.

Monday night, Evans found it.

“I just couldn’t believe it,” Evans, a GLTC bus driver, said. “I popped up and started hollering at my husband, honey, I think I found it! I think I found it!”

The certificate — which is worth more than $67,000 today — was discovered in the Virginia Department of the Treasury’s Unclaimed Property Program, where assets deemed abandoned end up.

The find is particularly surprising because the association leadership said it already checked the state’s database and found only one $30 check, which it claimed.

The money Evans tracked down was listed under a truncated name, Lynchburg Transit, rather than the full name originally put on the account, Lynchburg Transit Employee Benefits Association.

Last month, frustrated with the lack of answers, GLTC employees demanded a greater role in the association’s investigation. Since then, Evans and transportation supervisor Barry Williams — who together have been the employees’ de facto leaders on the issue — devoted themselves to scouring records, talking with the bank and consulting attorneys.

“We were like private investigators,” Evans said. “If I was not working, I was on the computer.”

Evans got the idea to check the state records again after noticing a discrepancy in the name listed on the account over the years. The certificate originally was purchased years ago from Central Fidelity Bank, which was bought out by Wachovia, which later became Wells Fargo.

Somewhere along the way, the name on the association’s account was whittled down to Lynchburg Transit.

“Isn’t it amazing,” Williams said. “I said, don’t you be kidding with me about something like this. I can’t tell you what an exhilarating day it has been. We’re tickled to death.”

Just last month, Williams was not particularly hopeful they’d be able to find the cash — on a scale of 1 to 10, he put his optimism at 5.

“That’s really the way I felt about it,” he said. “Then for the news to come down now that it’s been found, I just don’t know how to explain it. It’s a good ending for everybody.”

Financial assets and real property can both end up in Virginia’s unclaimed property program if the owner leaves them dormant for a while. In the case of banks, the maximum required holding period is five years, according to the state treasury’s web site.

Unclaimed assets are managed by the state and used to support the Literary Fund, but can be reclaimed by the owner at any time. Evans said she spoke with an official at the treasury department who confirmed the money appeared to be the lost certificate of deposit.

The association will have to fill out paperwork, but should get the money back in 60 days. In addition to the interest accrued from the bank, the state will pay a small amount of interest on the time it had the money.

“I don’t know how much it will be,” Evans said. “I was so excited, I didn’t ask.”

GLTC’s employee benefits association, which is now defunct, first tried to redeem the certificate of deposit in 2010 as part of its dissolution proceedings. It was told by the bank — then Wachovia — that the account had been closed out in 2003. Records related to the transaction had long since been purged, they were told.

Now that the money has been found, it will be divided among the 40 people who were still members of the association when it dis-banded.

“We are just amazed,” Evans said. “Honestly, a lot of people I work with need that money. To lose a chunk of money like that really makes you heartsick.”

Both Evans and Williams said the certificate’s recovery was a bright spot in what has been a stormy period for the financially trou-bled GLTC, which raised fares, cut service and downsized staff.

“You hear so much bad news these days,” Williams said. “It’s nice to get some good news.”