Vera Liddell, 68, was sentenced to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing $1.5 million worth of chicken wings. (Cook County Sheriff's Office)
Vera Liddell, a former food service director at Harvey School District 152, Illinois, United States, has been sentenced to nine years in jail for stealing $1.5 million worth of chicken wings.
The wings were set aside for students during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US.
Although schools were closed during the pandemic, the district was still sending meal kits to students learning remotely.
Liddell was tasked with placing orders for the chicken wings from a food provider for the school from July 2020 to February 2022. Prosecutors said she kept the food and continued to bill the district during this period.
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Prosecutors added that an audit last year discovered that the district’s food service department had exceeded its annual budget by $300,000, with the school year only half over.
The “fraud” was discovered after the business manager for the district uncovered the invoices for the chicken wings.
The sexagenarian was accused of ordering more than 11,000 cases of chicken wings from the food provider and picking up the order in a district cargo van.
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Court documents said chicken wings typically would not be served to students since they contain bones.
Liddell, who has worked with the school for a decade, was charged with theft and operating a criminal enterprise in January 2023.
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