Associated Press Published

A Single Auction Brings In Half A Million to Harrison County Drug Task Force

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The Greater Harrison Drug and Violent Crimes Task Force has received more than $480,000 from the sale of properties seized during a drug investigation.

The 10 properties included a former church and an uninhabitable home in Clarksburg.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury conducted the auction last week in Bridgeport in conjunction with the Internal Revenue Service. IRS special agent Mary Lou Prillaman tells The Exponent Telegram that the sale’s proceeds totaled $484,000.

The properties were seized during an investigation of the Hot Stuff and Cool Things stores in Buckhannon and Clarksburg. Authorities have said the stores were major distributors of hallucinogenic bath salts in north-central West Virginia.

Authorities raided and closed the stores in 2012.