A 68-year-old Illinois school worker was sentenced to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing $1.5 million worth of chicken wings during the pandemic.
In July 2020, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, then food service director for Harvey School District 152 Vera Liddell began placing unauthorized meal orders, primarily chicken wings, with Gordon Food Service, one of the school’s suppliers.
Though schools were closed at this point of the pandemic, the district she worked for continued to provide meals for the students that their families could pick up.
Liddell, however, would place orders for herself to embezzle, separately, from the district’s legitimate meal orders—both of which were billed to the school.
According to court documents, Liddell placed “enormous orders” multiple times a week, which she picked up using one of the school district’s cargo vans.
Liddell continued her scheme for more than one-and-a-half years, during which she ordered more than 11,000 cases of chicken wings from Gordon Food Service, who believed she was authorized to make the unusually tall orders.
In January 2022, a routine inspection from the district’s business manager revealed that the school’s food service department had exceeded its annual budget by over $300,000—despite being only halfway through the school year.
The business manager “discovered individual invoices signed by Liddell for massive quantities of chicken wings, an item that was never served to students because they contain bones,” prosecutors said.
In January 2023, Liddell was charged with theft and operating a criminal enterprise. She placed her last fraudulent order in February 2022. In total, her scheme cost the district $1.5 million—taxpayer-funded.
A court has sentenced her to nine years in prison.
According to LinkedIn, Liddel spent ten years as director of food services at Harvey School District 152. Her tenure ended in 2021, but she was hired as a consultant to assist in the transition of the new director. As such, she continued to be the only person placing food orders for the district.
Harvey School District 152 consists of four elementary schools, one middle school, and a nursery school.
Court documents do not mention how or to whom Liddell redirected the meals, nor whether or how much she profited off her scheme.
Earlier this month, another scammer who took advantage of the pandemic was sentenced to jail.
64-year-old Gordon Hunter Pedersen from Utah was involved in a $6 million scheme that sold ingestible silver products that claimed they would cure various diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, and pneumonia. When the pandemic hit, he claimed the “Silver Miracle” drug also cured COVID-19.
Pederson ran from the law but was ultimately caught and sentenced to three years.