An Illinois school worker will spend the next nine years in prison after she stole 11,000 cases of chicken wings worth $1.5 million that were meant for students during the height of the COVID pandemic, prosecutors said.
Vera Liddell used her position as the food service director at Harvey School District 152 to carry out the unappetizing crime that was only unearthed after the district realized the school system blew past its budget, prosecutors reportedly said.
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, per 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 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 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.