WESTLAND, Mich. – A Westland mom of four says the state checks she depends on are vanishing somewhere between Lansing and her locked PO box, even though the checks are included in her “informed delivery” preview pictures.
The postal service also confirmed to Local 4 that there is an active investigation into state treasury checks.
Abrillia Larkins has walked into the Westland Post Office several times expecting to open her PO box and see her bi-monthly childcare assistance checks through a state program.
When she gets there, there’s no check to be found. Now, she says she’s out about $2,000 because of it.
“They are childcare checks that I am supposed to take and pay the licensed-exempt provider for taking care of the children,” Larkins said.
She started receiving the checks back in 2022. For years, she lived in neighboring communities and never had a single problem with payments showing up.
Last year, she moved to Westland and began relying on a brand new PO box inside the post office.
“September, when the check was supposed to come in the beginning of September, it never made it,” she said.
That’s despite her “informed delivery” email spelling out that a state check was on the way.
She waited and watched, day after day.
Eventually, she called the department running the state program to ask them to put a stop payment on the missing money, but there was a snag.
“The check was cashed,” she said.
She got a copy of the check. It shows that it was cashed by someone who printed Abrillia’s name and then signed another name underneath it.
She filed a formal affidavit, claiming a forged endorsement on a state treasurer’s warrant.
She also says she filed a report with Westland Police.
Eventually, the checks started coming again, until January. Another check was missing, so she filed another police report.
“This time we were able to catch it, stop payment,” she said.
Local 4 went to the post office today to ask what’s going on. Employees inside the office said they couldn’t talk.
Local 4 also reached out to the postal service. They say there’s currently an active investigation into state treasury checks.
“What’s your message to whoever is doing this? What do you have to say to them?” Local 4’s Kyla Russell asked Larkins.
“You are putting families behind on bills and everything -- it’s not a good look,” Larkins said.