ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The Belmont County Sheriff’s Department gained a new member and was introduced with a welcoming ceremony on Monday.

The department’s furry new member is Xyrem, a Belgian Malinois, and is a certified drug sniffing dog. XTO Energy and Frio Capital Group teamed up to donate $19,000 to help the Belmont County Sheriff’s Office purchase, train, and certify Xyrem. XTO Energy donated $7,000 to cover the costs to retrofit a cruiser for K-9 use, as well as for training and certification.

“This gives the guys a complete unit with this dog,” Sheriff Dave Lucas said. “We all know about the drug problem and this dog is just phenomenal.

“He is just very excited and we are looking forward to getting him out there. Without that (the donation), we don’t have the funds. We are all really thankful to have Xyrem be a part of the team.”

Rick Frio, managing partner of Frio Capital Group, said he wanted to buy the dog for Belmont County after seeing how the Fitzsimmons Family Foundation purchased a dog for the Wheeling Police Department. Frio donated $12,000 to help buy Xyrem and the training that he needed.

“We are thrilled and grateful that we have such great first responders,” Frio said. “They take care of us every day. We are glad we were able to do our part in providing the dog to the county.”

XTO Energy then partnered with Frio to close the deal on Xyrem with a $7,000 donation. XTO Energy’s donation was to cover the costs to retrofit a cruiser for K-9 use, as well as for training and certification for Xyrem. XTO Energy operates drug-free work zones and tests workers to ensure safe, healthy and productive workplace, so the company was happy to be able to help get another drug sniffing dog for the county

“On behalf of XTO Energy, we are huge fans of our first responders and we have the privilege of living in this community,” Karen Matusic said. “These guys here do great things every day so this is just a small token of our appreciation. They do a great job and we want to thank them for every day.”

The sheriff’s department also presented Frio and Matusic with a plaque to thank them for their donation and support. Merry K9 Services provided the training and certification services, which is required before patrols can begin. Xyrem is now fully certified and ready to start his job.The Belmont County Sheriff’s department has three other dogs to search for drugs as well as a bomb detecting dog that was given to the department by Homeland Security.