Harvey, Illinois — A food service director at a poverty-stricken Southern Suburban school district has been charged with stealing $1.5 million worth of food, primarily chicken wings, according to court documents seen by WGN Investigates.
Vera Liddell, 66, worked for Harvey School District 152 for more than a decade, according to the LinkedIn account associated with her name.
“The massive fraud started at the height of COVID when students weren’t allowed to physically attend school,” read a profile presented at Liddell’s hearing. We were learning remotely, but the school district continued to feed students so families could pick them up.”
Liddell is accused of ordering more than 11,000 cases of chicken wings from the district’s food supplier and receiving the orders in the district’s cargo van, according to court records.
“No food was ever brought into the school or served to the students,” reads Plofer.
District funds were used to pay for the food, according to prosecutors who did not disclose what happened to the chicken wings.
The scheme was discovered by the district’s business manager during a routine interim audit. I discovered that it was over $.
“She found bills signed by Liddell for a huge amount of chicken wings, which were not served to students because they contained bones,” the prosecutor said. .
According to court records, an employee of Gordon Food Service, a district food supplier, knew the defendant well “because he had purchased a large quantity of chicken wings.”
The case was investigated by the Cook County State Attorney’s Office, and Liddell was charged with theft. She is being held in Cook County Jail on her $150,000 bail.
Harvey School District 152 interim superintendent Lela Bridges said she’s only been on the job since last week. She told WGN she was aware of her charges but had no comment as her investigation was ongoing.
The district consists of 5 schools. Records show the district’s total enrollment is 1,600, and more than 80% of her students qualify as “low income.”
