The food service director of a poor Illinois school district was charged for stealing $1.5 million worth of food, the majority of which was chicken wings.
Vera Liddell, 66, allegedly began stealing from the Harvey School District at the height of COVID-19, according to local TV station WGN.
The station claimed that Liddell bought more than 11,000 cases of chicken wings for the district using school funds, but she retained all the meat for herself.
The meal “was never brought to the school or provided to the pupils,” according to court records.
According to the prosecution, she allegedly started stealing while lectures were being presented remotely but the district was still providing pick-up lunches.
Unknown is what will happen to the tones of chicken wings. The local media did not report on the day of her arrest.
During a routine audit in January 2022, the district manager reportedly found that food prices were $300,000 above budget, barely halfway through the school year. This is according to CBS News.
Chicken wings are never served to students because they include bones, but the auditor “discovered individual bills signed by Liddell for vast quantities of chicken wings,” the prosecution claims.
According to the prosecution, who spoke to WGN, every employee at the food service provider knew Liddell by name “because of the tremendous amount of chicken wings she would purchase.”
Liddell is being jailed at the Cook County Jail on a $150,000 bond.