Ex-Cafeteria Worker Steals $1.5M Worth of School’s Chicken Wings, Gets Hit with Major Prison Sentence
Vera Liddell, a 66-year-old former food service director for Harvey School District 152 in Illinois, was sentenced to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing $1.5 million worth of chicken wings over a 19-month span. From July 2020 to February 2022, Liddell exploited her position by placing inflated orders for chicken wings through district funds, keeping the food for personal gain instead of providing it for students during remote learning due to COVID-19. An audit revealed that the district’s budget was significantly overspent, with the theft amounting to approximately 11,000 cases of wings. This unusual case highlights failures in the school district’s hiring practices and oversight, as Liddell had a history of bankruptcies prior to her employment. The incident raises various questions about how such extensive theft could go unnoticed for so long and suggests a need for improved financial management in similar institutions.
Of all the things to risk prison time over, chicken wings are certainly an odd choice.
Vera Liddell — a 66-year old woman who worked for Harvey School District 152 in Illinois — did just that.
WLS-TV reported Liddell had been charged with theft and operation of a criminal enterprise in January 2023.
Over a 19-month period beginning in July 2020 until February 2022, Liddell — working as the food service director — would place orders with Gordon Food Services using the district’s money to then keep the food.
The total amount of chicken wings stolen was worth $1.5 million dollars.
An audit in 2023 found the budget for the school district was $300,000 over only halfway through the school year.
CBS News found that amount equals 11,000 cases of chicken wings.
Liddell was sentenced to nine years in prison on Friday after pleading guilty. Per WGN-TV, prosecutors commented in saying, “The massive fraud began at the height of COVID during a time when students were not allowed to be physically present in school.”
In providing an explanation regarding food services for the district during remote operations, they further said, “Even though the children were learning remotely, the school district continued to provide meals for the students that their families could pick up.”
So many questions come from this story.
$1.5 million dollars in chicken wings is no small amount, obviously.
The details invoke images of Liddell stealing cases of chicken wings, bringing them home, then running an illegal chicken wing business out of her house.
Surely her neighbors, friends, and friends of friends knew her as the lady who could get you great prices on chicken wings.
Did she have help? How could this criminal mastermind have acted alone so effectively over the years?
Her story might not be worth a film on the big screen, but maybe a deal between a streaming service and the district for a series could work in trying to recover all the money they lost.
Perhaps the district only has themselves to blame in poor hiring practices.
CBS reports Liddell took on the job as food services director even though she had multiple bankruptcies. Someone hired her to be in charge of spending money despite her past proving she is absolutely not the person you should trust with that.
Whatever Harvey School District decides to do next, they’ll definitely be keeping a close eye on the food budget from now on.
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