Vera Lidell, a 66-year-old woman from Chicago was charged with thieving over $1.5 million worth of food – mostly chicken wings.
Lidell worked as Director of Food Services for a school district in a Chicago suburb. She began working for Harvey School District 152 in July 2020 and placed hundreds of unsanctioned orders for items between July 2020 and February 2022 – which comprised 11,000 cases of chicken wings through the school’s primary supplier, Gordon Food Service.
Chicago Robber
According to prosecutors, “The massive fraud began at the height of COVID during a time when students were not allowed to be physically present in school. Even though the children were learning remotely, the school district continued to provide meals for the students that their families could pick up.”
But the food never arrived at the school or was provided to the students.
Based on court records and as reported by Fox5NY, Gordon Food Service believed that the orders were official so they billed Harvey School District 152, which then paid for the food items. Lidell would then use one of the school district’s cargo vans to pick up and transport the stolen food.
However, a routine mid-year review carried out by the district’s business manager in January 2022 showed that the food service department had surpassed its yearly budget by more than $300,000 despite only being halfway through the school year.
Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that there were individual invoices signed by Liddell for huge volumes of chicken wings, an item that was never served to students.
Gordon Food Service employees got to know Lidell “due to the massive amount of chicken wings she would purchase,” while surveillance footage from the facility revealed that she would often arrive prior to them opening to pick up orders.
Lidell, whose bail is set at $150,000, is currently being held at Cook County Jail until the Chicago robber is scheduled to appear in court again on Feb. 22.
Were the chicken wings sold by Lidell? Or she ate them all up?