TAYLOR, Mich. – A woman who worked at a Detroit mail processing center was charged with stealing mail Monday.
Sharon Berrien allegedly took between 1,600-2,000 pieces of mail since October.
Police began investigating the mail processing center on Oct. 6 when a customer brought mail that he found on the side of I-94 to the post office. The man said he found the mail scattered on the side of the road while walking along the Pelham Road exit on westbound I-94. He said it was the second time he'd found mail in the area, as his wife had discovered mail in the area two months prior.
The mail found along the road consisted of greeting cards. Police searched through the work schedule at the processing center and found that Berrien worked on each of the dates that the mail would have been processed on. Police also said the area where the mail was found was directly between the center and Berrien's home.
On Nov. 21, about 800 pieces of mail were left in the trash for pickup outside Berrien's home. These pieces were also greeting cards. Three days later, police began asking Berrien about the investigation. She eventually admitted to taking the mail to her home, hiding the mail in her closet until her husband went to work and then opening and removing the contents of the mail after he left, according to police.
Berrien said she took the cash, but not gift cards or checks from the mail.
"I was bored," Berrien told police when they asked her why she took the mail. She also said that it was just a game that she played to see if she would get caught, but that it got out of hand. She told police she did not need the cash and doesn't have any financial problems.
Berrien would take mail from the sorting table about once per week, according to authorities.
She told police she had taken between $1,000 and $1,500 in cash.