Over 15,000 pieces of mail went undelivered in Macomb County, but according to investigators, it wasn’t found until an exterminator sounded the alarm.

Tiara Vann has worked at the Warren Post Office for a little over two years. According to an investigator with the Inspector General’s Office, she pleaded guilty to keeping mail from her delivery route dating back to September 2018. Federal court records show that Vann has been issued a charge of Theft of Mail by an Officer or Employee.

Vann was discovered to have almost 15,000 pieces of mail when an exterminator was sent into her home in Clinton Township in early January. The exterminator reached out to the property management company who relayed the information to investigators after getting a look at a mountain of undelivered mail.

The mail was traced back to a postal route in Warren with the zip code 48089, it’s unclear whether the mail has since been correctly delivered. At least one person affected lived on the 1300 block of Hendricks Street, which appears to be on U.S. Postal Office city route 17 in Warren — part of Vann’s route since December. It’s unclear from court records whether other mail routes were affected in previous months, but it does note that Vann admitted to bringing mail home dating back to September.

Local news has also reached out to the U.S. Postal Office for further updates about how they’re handling the case, and a spokesperson released this statement:

“The vast majority of U.S. Postal Service personnel are dedicated, hard-working public servants dedicated to moving mail to its proper destination who would never consider engaging in any form of criminal behavior. This type of alleged behavior within the Postal Service is not tolerated and when a postal employee betrays that trust of the American people, the special agents in the U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General vigorously investigate these matters as we did in this instance and work with local, state and federal prosecutors to hold accountable those employees who violate that public trust.”