SCHAUMBURG – When 91-year old Leroy Wolff received a letter in May stating nearly $40,000 in stock he owned had been transferred to Illinois’ unclaimed property division, he didn’t know where to turn.

“The letter stated the account had been determined to be inactive due to correspondence from the company being returned,” Wolff said. “It didn’t make any sense. I was reading a letter from the company saying correspondence had been returned. I was dumbfounded.”

Wolff, a native of Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood who now resides in Friendship Village of Schaumburg, tried resolving the issue with the company, Duke Energy, to no avail. He discussed his predicament with State Senator Laura Murphy (D – Des Plaines) at an event held at Friendship Village a few weeks later.

“I consider myself lucky the senator was here talking with the seniors,” Wolff said.

An aide to Senator Murphy contacted the Illinois State Treasurer’s office and began looking into the issue.

While it is still not known why the company transferred Wolff’s stock to Illinois’ unclaimed property division, known as I-Cash, Senator Murphy’s staff was able to assist Mr. Wolff in filling out the necessary paperwork to return the stock.

“Unfortunately, Mr. Wolff’s situation happens too often to too many people,” Murphy said. “It is imperative we look out for our seniors and do everything to protect their finances from potential scams and misallocations. I am happy we were able to assist and get property that is rightfully Mr. Wolff’s returned to him.”

Wolff thanked Murphy for helping navigate the bureaucracy.

“The thing that has been so aggravating about this whole process is how difficult it initially was to get this sorted out,” Wolff said. “Things were taking an awfully long time and I didn’t seem to be getting a response. Senator Murphy’s aide Andrew is the kind of guy I want working for me. He kept following up and was relentless. I’m thankful for their help.”