A longtime school district employee has been sentenced to nine years in jail after prosecutors said she orchestrated a large-scale food theft scheme involving over $1.5 million in chicken wings intended for students at a school near Chicago. The case, which unfolded during the COVID-19 pandemic, involved more than 11,000 cases of chicken wings taken from the district’s food service department.
Prosecutors identified the employee as Vera Liddell, 68, who had been with the district for almost a decade and handled food service operations. Her work entailed placing orders, managing inventory, and authorizing deliveries, all of which police believe she utilized to carry out the year-long heist.
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- 1 Routine Audit Exposes Massive Over-Budget Food Spending
- 2 How the Scheme Operated During the Pandemic
- 3 Guilty Plea Leads to Nine-Year Sentence
Routine Audit Exposes Massive Over-Budget Food Spending
A routine financial audit uncovered the plan, revealing food expenses about $300,000 over budget and prompting a more thorough internal investigation. Despite pandemic restrictions closing the district’s schools at the time, families with pupils learning at home continued to receive meal kits.
According to authorities, none of the chicken wings Liddell ordered made it into the student food kits. Instead, she allegedly made numerous purchases for large quantities of chicken wings, had them delivered to the district, and then used a school cargo vehicle to transfer the items for her personal and financial gain.
How the Scheme Operated During the Pandemic
According to investigators, the theft began in July 2020, during the peak of remote learning, and lasted approximately one year. Because students did not dine on campus, auditors noticed the dramatic increase in meat orders, necessitating a closer look at delivery records, invoicing, and vendor communication.
Liddell reportedly ensured:
- The chicken wings were ordered through official channels
- Delivery paperwork appeared normal
- Food never reached distribution points for student meals
This allowed the plan to run for several months until money anomalies prompted the district to investigate.
Guilty Plea Leads to Nine-Year Sentence
Liddell eventually pleaded guilty to theft and running a criminal enterprise. The judge sentenced her to nine years in prison, according to the report. Prosecutors emphasized that the scale of the crime was unprecedented, both in terms of dollars and food diverted.
According to court filings, the repeated orders totaled more than $1.5 million, making it one of the largest instances of food service theft ever reported in an Illinois school district.
