- What do you do with millions of chicken wings?
As anyone with a taste for chicken wings knows, those little morsels can be pretty darn expensive. Looking at how much some restaurants charge for a plate of wings, you’d imagine they’re made of gold instead of meat.
That said, it’s no wonder they’ve ended up at the center of a bizarre fraud case.
Vera Liddell, an ex-employee at an Illinois school district, has pleaded guilty to defrauding her former employer. During her time on the job, the 66-year-old managed to steal $1.5 million — in chicken wings.
Abusing her position in the school district’s food service, Liddell ordered thousands of chicken wing cases. When it was time to pay the bill, she charged the schools for the purchases.
In the end, however, her tasty plot was discovered. That wasn’t due to an in-depth police investigation or anything else exciting like that, though.
Liddell had simply made no effort to cover her tracks and the chicken wing orders were discovered during a bog-standard financial audit.
She has now been sentenced to nine years in prison. But really, the biggest question remains unanswered — did she eat the wings or sell them?
COVID Makes a Thief
Liddell wasn’t some new hire who immediately began using her position for ill gain. In fact, she had worked for the Harvey School District 152 outside of Chicago for more than a decade.
Over the years, Liddell had worked her way up and had become the school district’s food service director. In her role, she was responsible for ordering the ingredients the district needed to provide meals for the students.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic came along and showed that the opportunity can make a thief even out of the most loyal employee.
“The massive fraud began at the height of COVID, during a time when students were not allowed to be physically present in school,” a court document seen by WGN read.
Despite the schools having no students, the Harvey School District was still feeding them. It kept providing meals that the kids’ families could pick up if they needed them.
So, Liddell had to keep ordering food. But she also started ordering things she wasn’t supposed to.
Liddell placed her first order for chicken wings with Gordon Food Services — the school district’s food supplier — in July 2020. When the supplies were ready, she picked them up in the school district’s cargo van for that extra bit of credibility.
However, she kept the wings for herself. The bill, of course, went to the school district.
The ploy was a success, so Liddell repeated it — again and again. In total, she ordered more than 11,000 cases of chicken wings in the school district’s name.
Put together, the chicken wings were worth $1.5 million. That’s a few wings.
Brought Down by Paperwork
According to the courts, Liddell’s fraud spree lasted from July 2020 to February 2022. Although she initially seemed to be getting away scot-free, she made a crucial mistake.
Liddell didn’t think to or was unable to provide a cover for the chicken wing orders, or to stick by the school district’s budget.
After all $1.5 million is a lot of money — much more than the Harvey School District had allocated for its food service. At some point, some financial worker noticed that the district’s 2021-2022 food service costs were $300,000 over budget.
That was pretty alarming, considering the school year was only halfway through. So, the district’s financial office did what they were supposed to do and initiated a routine audit.
The audit discovered the school district had ordered lots and lots of chicken wings, which raised some eyebrows. After all, the district doesn’t serve chicken wings because they have bones in them and that’s just a lawsuit waiting to happen.
But What of the Wings?
The Harvey School District started following the chicken wings’ trail until everything pointed at Liddell. In January 2023, she was charged with theft and operating a criminal enterprise.
To not bore you with the details of a one-and-half-year-long court case, Liddell pleaded guilty to both charges on August 10. She was promptly sentenced to serve a nine-year prison term.
Prosecutors in the case have refused to disclose what Liddell did with the chicken wings.
Did she sell them to restaurants? Did she eat what must be tens of thousands, if not millions, of chicken wings all on her own?
The public needs to know.