This public school food-service director stole $1.5 million in chicken wings from students during the height of the Covid pandemic and now she'll be serving nine years in prison for her finger-lickin' crime.
Depriving inner-city kids of chicken wings? NOW THAT SHOULD BE A HATE CRIME.
And to do it during Covid when many of these kids were relying on the take-home meals more than ever??
Vera Liddell, 68, was working for Harvey School District 152 when she placed orders for the chicken wings with a food provider for the district, Gordon Food Services, from July 2020 to February 2022 and billed the district while she kept the food, prosecutors said, according to ABC 7 Chicago.
She was accused of ordering more than 11,000 cases of chicken wings from the food provider and picking up the order in a district cargo van.
Schools were closed during this time due to the pandemic, but the district was still sending meal kits to students learning remotely.
Liddell was charged with theft and operating a criminal enterprise in January 2023.
The scheme was discovered when the district's business manager found the invoices for the poultry during a routine mid-year audit last year, according to court documents, which noted that chicken wings typically would not be served to students since they contain bones.
The audit revealed that the district's food service department had exceeded its annual budget by $300,000 with half the school year left, according to prosecutors.
You know, I'm glad to hear these were bone-in chicken wings. If they were boneless I'd have condemned Liddell even harder for her stupidity.
Liddell had worked in the school district for 10 years prior to her crime, and I know what you're thinking: How did she eat all those wings?
Well, it says above she had some sort of criminal enterprise going on, so your guess is as good as mine as to whether she was selling them on the street, selling them to local businesses, or simply holding massive barbecues in the park charging $10 a head for entry.
We do know this: She stole 11,000 cases of chicken wings, which equates to about 8 million wings, valued at an estimated $1.5 million.
No word yet as to whether or not the prison Liddell will be held at serves bone-in chicken wings.
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