A former employee of a school district in Illinois has pleaded guilty to stealing $1.5 million worth of chicken wings from the district’s food service.
According to a report from WGN, Vera Liddell was arrested in January 2023 and pleaded guilty Friday.
She was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Liddell, 68, was the food service director for Harvey School District 152 near Chicago for more than a decade, WGN reported.
The crimes took place during the COVID pandemic when students were not allowed to be physically present at school. During this time, the district continued to provide meals for students that their parents could pick up.
Court records show that Liddell ordered more than 11,000 cases of chicken wings from the school district’s food provider and picked up the order in a district cargo van.
The food was never brought to the school or given to students, records show.
District funds were used to pay for the chicken wings, according to prosecutors.
A report from WLS said the orders were placed over a 19-month period from July 2020 to February 2022.
