Illinois School Worker Sentenced to 9 Years for Stealing $1.5 Million in Wings

Shocking Chicken Wing Heist

An Illi­nois school work­er, Vera Lid­dell, has been sen­tenced to 9 years in prison for steal­ing $1.5 mil­lion worth of chick­en wings meant for stu­dents dur­ing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lid­dell, who was the food ser­vice direc­tor at Har­vey School Dis­trict 152, used her posi­tion to car­ry out the elab­o­rate scheme from July 2020 to Feb­ru­ary 2022.

Uncovering the Theft

The theft was only dis­cov­ered after the dis­trict real­ized it had blown past its bud­get, despite schools being closed and meal kits still being sent to stu­dents in remote learning.

A rou­tine audit by the school’s busi­ness man­ag­er found that food costs were $300,000 over bud­get, lead­ing to Lid­del­l’s arrest.

Guilty Plea and Sentencing

Lid­dell was orig­i­nal­ly charged with theft and oper­at­ing a crim­i­nal enter­prise in Jan­u­ary 2023. She ulti­mate­ly plead­ed guilty to the charges and was sen­tenced to 9 years in prison.

Pros­e­cu­tors say Lid­dell used a school car­go van to pick up the 11,000 cas­es of wings, but stu­dents nev­er saw a sin­gle one.