Audit: Treasurer has 30 guns not given to police

SPRINGFIELD - A state audit has found that Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford has since 2010 collected 30 unclaimed firearms but has not turned them over to the state police.

Auditor General William Holland's report Tuesday said the treasurer's office policy is to hand over unclaimed guns twice a year.

Rutherford's office says it will update that policy because the treasurer wants to give people 15 years to claim firearms if they're eligible to have them.

Lori Ann McCabe, Rutherford's deputy chief of staff, says the handguns are each fitted with trigger locks and stored in the Capitol's unclaimed property vault.

The guns were found in 11 safe deposit boxes abandoned over the years. The treasurer is charged with finding owners of unclaimed property.