Old Benton City Police Evidence Vault Gives Up Gold Church Treasures
Who knew the Benton City Police Department ever existed? We had forgotten...
WHAT WAS FOUND IN AN OLD EVIDENCE VAULT?
Wednesday, the Benton County Sheriff's Department reported that a long-lost evidence vault was found, and it contained (among other items) a large number of gold-plated religious ceremonial items.
WHEN DID BENTON CITY CLOSE ITS POLICE DEPARTMENT?
We've done some initial searching, and are still trying to pinpoint the exact year, but it was in the early 1980's when Benton City closed its Police Department and contracted with the BCSO to provide its law enforcement. A lot of searching so far has yielded nothing about this old Law Enforcement Agency.
According to the BCSO, the Benton City Police Department had taken a burglary call in the late 1970's or very early 80's at St Frances Xavier Cabrini Church in Benton City.
A short time later, apparently, a number of gold-plated ceremonial items were recovered and stored in an evidence vault at the Police Station. We've been provided with an address that a source says they believe was the old building. It's pictured here in Google Street View, but we CANNOT confirm that.
WHAT ABOUT THE EVIDENCE VAULT?
The Benton County Sheriff's Office says they recently were made aware of the discovery of the old vault. What else was in it was not revealed, but inside the vault were the church's items. They have been returned to the Church, and obviously, they're thrilled to get them back.
Why they were never returned decades ago remains a mystery, as does the old Benton City Police Department. Speaking of things gone away...
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