*Vera Liddell, a former food service director for Harvey School District 152 in Illinois, has pleaded guilty to stealing $1.5 million worth of chicken wings.
The theft, which involved ordering over 11,000 cases of chicken wings between 2020 and 2022, was uncovered during an audit. Liddell, who faced charges of theft and running a criminal enterprise, has been sentenced to nine years in prison. She was booked on August 9, the New York Post reports.
We reported earlier that Liddell worked for the impoverished school district for more than a decade, and during the COVID pandemic, she got the idea to steal frozen food intended for remote-learning students.
It isn’t clear what she did with the products but investigators suspect she sold the frozen wings.
Illinois school worker Vera Liddell gets 9-years for $1.5 million chicken wing heist https://t.co/BzRzDw1Jya pic.twitter.com/JqP23buihT
— New York Post (@nypost) August 12, 2024
“The massive fraud began at the height of COVID during a time when students were not allowed to be physically present in school,” court docs said, WGN reported. “Even though the children were learning remotely, the school district continued to provide meals for the students that their families could pick up.”
According to court records, Liddell ordered more than 11,000 cases of chicken wings from Gordon Food Service, the school district’s food provider, and she picked up the orders in a district cargo van.
“The food was never brought to the school or provided to the students,” per the court docs. District funds were used to pay for the food, according to prosecutors.
An investigation uncovered surveillance video of Liddell arriving at Gordon Food Service to pick up cases of food. Prosecutors said the school district doesn’t serve chicken wings because they contain bones.
Liddell was busted in January 2022 during a routine mid-year audit. That’s when the district’s business manager discovered the food service department was more than $300,000 over its annual budget.
She was charged with felony financial crimes enterprise and felony theft exceeding $1,000,000, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
READ MORE FROM EURWEB.COM: School District Food Service Director Accused of Stealing $1.5M Worth of Chicken Wings
