A former food service director who previously worked in an Illinois school district will be spending 9 years in the slammer after pleading guilty to stealing $1.5 million worth of chicken wings. According to Fox News, the wings were supposed to distributed to students during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic.
While working for Harvey School District 152, Vera Liddell, 68, reportedly placed orders for the chicken wings through a food provider for the district. Liddell placed several orders through Gordon Food Services, from July 2020 to February 2022 and billed the district while she kept the food, prosecutors stated. Authorities also accused her of ordering more than 11,000 cases of chicken wings from the food provider and picking up the food in a district cargo van.
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Schools were closed when the theft occurred due to the pandemic, but the district was still providing meal kits to students learning remotely. Liddell hit with charges for theft and operating a criminal enterprise in January 2023.
The scheme was discovered when the district’s business manager found the invoices for the poultry during a routine mid-year audit last year, according to court documents, which noted that chicken wings typically would not be served to students since they contain bones.
The audit revealed that the district’s food service department had exceeded its annual budget by $300,000 with half the school year left, according to prosecutors.
It’s also worth noting that Liddell had worked for Harvey School District 152 for more than a decade.