NRS179.165. Notice must be provided by law enforcement agency to owner, pawnbroker and other interested persons; contents of notice; sale or disposal of unclaimed property by county treasurer; records.

      1.  Except as otherwise provided in subsections 2 and 3, a law enforcement agency which has custody of property that has been stolen or embezzled shall, if the agency knows or can reasonably discover the name and address of the owner or the person entitled to possession of the property, notify the owner or the person entitled to possession of the property by letter of the location of the property and the method by which the owner or the person entitled to possession of the property may claim it.

      2.  If the property that has been stolen or embezzled is a firearm, the law enforcement agency shall notify only the owner of the firearm of the location of the property and the method by which the owner may claim it.

      3.  If the property that has been stolen or embezzled was obtained from a pawnbroker pursuant to NRS 646.047, the law enforcement agency shall, in addition to notifying the persons described in subsection 1 or 2, as appropriate, notify the pawnbroker from whom it was obtained.

      4.  The notice must be mailed by certified or registered mail:

      (a) Upon the conviction of the person who committed the offense;

      (b) Upon the decision of the police or district attorney not to pursue or prosecute the case; or

      (c) When the case is otherwise terminated.

      5.  If the property stolen or embezzled is not claimed by the owner or the person entitled to possession of the property before the expiration of 6 months after the date the notice is mailed or, if no notice is required, after the date notice would have been sent if it were required, the magistrate or other officer having it in custody shall, except as otherwise provided in this subsection, on payment of the necessary expenses incurred for its preservation, deliver it to the county treasurer, who shall dispose of the property as provided in subsection 6. If a metropolitan police department which is organized pursuant to chapter 280 of NRS has custody of the property, the sheriff of the department may deliver it to the county treasurer and accept the net proceeds, if any, from the disposition of the property pursuant to subsection 6 in lieu of the payment of expenses incurred for the property’s preservation.

      6.  Upon receiving stolen or embezzled property pursuant to this section, the county treasurer shall petition the district court for an order authorizing the county treasurer to:

      (a) Conduct an auction for the disposal of salable property;

      (b) Dispose of property not deemed salable by donations to charitable organizations or by destruction;

      (c) Destroy property the possession of which is deemed illegal or dangerous; or

      (d) Dispose of property not purchased at an auction by donations to charitable organizations or by destruction.

      7.  Records of the property disposed of by sale, destruction or donation and an accounting of the cash received by the county treasurer from the sales must be filed with the county clerk.

      (Added to NRS by 1967, 1461; A 1973, 565; 1989, 382; 1999, 753)