A former school employee from Illinois, Chicago, has been sentenced to nine years in prison for stealing $1.5 million (Ksh. 193 million) worth of chicken wings from the district during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Between July 2020 and February 2022, 68-year-old Vera Liddell ordered more than 11,000 cases of chicken wings from the school district’s food supplier, Gordon Food Services, and picked them up using a district cargo van. Liddell had served as the food service director for Harvey School District 152 for 10 years.
Although students were learning remotely during the pandemic, the district still provided meals for families to pick up. Liddell’s role included placing orders with Gordon Food Services and handling the billing, but instead of distributing the chicken wings, she kept them for herself, according to prosecutors.
On August 9, Liddell pleaded guilty to the charges and received a nine-year prison sentence. The fraud was uncovered in 2023 when an audit revealed that the district’s food service department had exceeded its annual budget by $300,000 (Ksh. 38 million) halfway through the school year.
The district’s business manager discovered invoices for the chicken wings, a food item not typically served to students because of the bones. Court records indicated that Liddell was known for purchasing large quantities of chicken wings. When her scheme was exposed, she was charged with theft and operating a criminal enterprise in January 2023.
