School Food Service Worker Accused of Stealing $1.5 Million Worth of Chicken Wings
A former college meals companies director is charged with stealing over $1.5 million price of frozen hen wings.
Vera Liddell, 66, is the previous director of meals companies at Harvey Faculty District 152 within the Chicago suburb of Harvey.
She was charged with felony monetary crimes enterprise and felony theft exceeding $1,000,000.
The Prepare dinner County State’s Lawyer’s workplace accused Liddell of a scheme to steal frozen hen wings that price taxpayers greater than $1.5 million, in accordance with the Chicago Sun-Times.
The scheme was launched throughout the COVID pandemic when funds had been flowing to highschool districts to offer meals even if college students had been studying remotely, and never in faculties.
In accordance with the State’s Lawyer’s workplace, from July 2020 till February 2022, Liddell positioned tons of of unauthorized orders for 11,000 instances of frozen hen wings and different meals objects. The orders had been positioned by way of college district vendor Gordon Meals Service, prosecutors stated.
Gordon Meals Service advised investigators they believed the purchases had been approved and the district paid all the invoices, prosecutors stated.
The hen wing caper was found in January 2022 when the district enterprise supervisor carried out a routine mid-year audit and found the meals service division was greater than $300,000 over its annual finances whereas faculties had been closed.
An investigation uncovered a number of invoices signed by Liddell for mass portions of frozen hen wings, prosecutors stated.
Prosecutors reviewed surveillance video that confirmed Liddell arriving at Gordon Meals Service to select up the instances of meals in a district cargo van. However the meals was by no means delivered to the faculties, prosecutors stated.
Moreover, the varsity district doesn’t even serve hen wings to college students as a result of they comprise bones, prosecutors stated.
Liddell labored for Chicago faculties for greater than 10 years. It isn’t clear what she did with the 1000’s of frozen hen wings. Officers theorize she bought the frozen wings to eating places as a profitable facet hustle.
Liddell was launched from jail after posting 10% of her $150,000 bail. Her subsequent court docket look is on Feb. 22, on the Sixth District Courthouse, the Lawyer’s Workplace tells Inside Edition Digital.
