School employee stole chicken wings 11,000 times, damage $1.5 million

The Cook County District Attorney’s Office has filed charges against the school district’s food department chief, who embezzled 11,000 chicken wings, a total of $1.5 million (540 million HUF) in taxpayer money over a 19-month period.

According to the body Vera Liddell She placed hundreds of unauthorized orders, mostly for chicken wings, to the school district’s primary supplier, Gordon Food Services, between July 2020 and February 2022. Lidell placed the orders in addition to the official orders, but the supplier, believing the woman was authorized to do so, billed the school district.

The requests were exposed when the district manager conducted an audit and found that the food department had exceeded its annual budget by $300,000, even though it was only halfway through the school year. He also came across bills signed by Lidell, who had worked here for nearly a decade, that mostly contained chicken wings, which are not usually given to students because they are bony.

During the investigation, security camera recordings were also found, in which Lidell appeared at the supplier of chicken wings (everyone here knew him because of his huge orders) and signed the acceptance certificate. He then got into one of the school district’s trucks and drove away with food, but never made it to the school building with them.

The indictment did not reveal what happened to the chicken wings.

The school district consists of five schools, which are attended by a total of 1,600 children. WGN-TV reports that more than 80 percent of the students come from “low-income” families.