The woman from Illinois allegedly stole $1.5 million worth of food. Vera Lidell, 66, was charged by the local authorities for putting a school in Illinois in a tight position wherein they had to pay a massive bill to their food supplier.
This is allegedly Lidell's fault for ordering massive amounts of food from various suppliers for the school. She had been running this scheme for years.
The suppliers and delivery personnel knew her due to her large orders of chicken wings.
Woman steals food from Illinois school
According to ABC, Lidell is facing charges of theft and operating a financial crime enterprise. She is accused of embezzling $1.5 million worth of food, mainly chicken wings, from a school district over a period of nearly two years.
The alleged scheme involved Liddell placing orders for the food, which included 11,000 cases of chicken wings, separate from the legitimate orders of the district.
The food service providers then sent invoices to the district, which paid them without realizing that the orders were fraudulent. The scheme was reportedly active from July 2020 to February 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The scheme was discovered during a routine mid-year audit by a manager, who found that the district had exceeded its annual budget by over $300,000 despite being only halfway through the school year.
The business manager for the district conducted a closer examination of the invoices and found that they were for massive quantities of chicken wings that were never served to students as they contained bones.
Liddell also signed the invoices, leading to her arrest and the charges against her.
Stealing $1.5 million worth of food
As the inquiry progressed, FOX News reported that Lidell had placed hundreds of unauthorized food purchases with Gordon Food Service, the primary food supplier for the Harvey School District 152.
According to the prosecution, Liddell was the sole individual accountable for placing food orders on behalf of the district. According to the records filed with the court, the vast fraud started during the height of COVID, which was a period when kids were not permitted to be physically present in school.
Even though the children received their education through online classes, Harvey School District 152 took the initiative to continue providing student meals during the pandemic.
The students' families could pick up these meals to assist them in coping with the challenges they faced during this time.
It was concluded that the food was neither delivered to the school nor distributed to the pupils.
According to statements made to investigators by workers at Gordon Food Service, all workers were familiar with Liddell due to the enormous quantity of chicken wings she would purchase.
After making the fraudulent orders, Liddell would pick up the food in a cargo van belonging to the school district.
The New York Post stated that at this time, Liddell is being held at the Cook County Jail on a bond of $150,000. In addition, there is limited information available regarding the case due to the ongoing investigations.
