A former food service director in Chicago has been sentenced to nine years in prison after admitting to stealing $1.5 million worth of chicken wings.
Vera Liddell, 68, served as the food service director for Harvey School District 152. During the pandemic and its aftermath, Liddell pilfered the wings intended for students receiving remote learning meals, according to local TV station WGN.
Liddell ordered over 11,000 cases of chicken wings from the district’s food supplier and collected the orders using a district cargo van. The scheme, described as a “massive fraud” in legal filings, persisted from July 2020 until February 2022. The theft was uncovered during a routine audit, which revealed that the annual food service expenses had exceeded the budget by $300,000 halfway through the school year, WGN reported.
