Vera Liddell ex Harvey School District food service worker sentenced to 9 years jail after stealing $1.5M worth of chicken wings from school district with food never being delivered to students.
But where did it all go….?
An Illinois school worker has been sentenced to nine years jail after stealing 11,000 cases of chicken wings worth $1.5 million that were meant for students during the height of the Covid Pandemic, prosecutors announced.
Vera Liddell used her position as the food service director at Harvey School District 152 to carry out the heist over the course of 19 months before eventually being found after the school district realized it had gone way over its budget, prosecutors stated.
Routine audit uncovered large chicken wing billing
Liddell was responsible for placing orders with Gordon Food Services, a main supplier for the district, prosecutors stated. Prosecutors claimed Liddell ordering the chicken wings, billing the school district but only to keep the food.
Liddell, 68, started the scheme in July 2020 and didn’t stop until February 2022, the Cook County State Attorney’s Office said, according to ABC 7 Chicago.
While she bought up the incredible amount of poultry and used a school cargo van to pick up the food, students never saw a single wing, prosecutors said, according to WGN.
Schools were closed, but the district near Chicago was still sending out meal kits to students in remote learning during the height of the COVID pandemic.
She was originally charged with theft and operating a criminal enterprise in January 2023.
Liddell, who was food service head for ten years at the district, took a guilty plea in the case on Friday, August 9th before she received the 9-year prison sentence, WGN reported.
A school business manager found food costs were $300,000 over budget even though there were still months left to the school year during a routine audit that led to Liddell’s arrest.
The business manager for the district uncovered the invoices for the chicken wings, according to court records. That’s an item that typically wouldn’t be served to students because they contain bones, documents stated.
Not immediately clear is was happened to the chicken Liddell was busted stealing.
