Chiefs Player Pledges $1.5M to Cover Stolen Chicken Wings, Seeks to Free Woman in Unusual Case

While she was in jail for stealing food from kids during the COVID pandemic, Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones offered to pay for the $1.5 million worth of chicken wings that a former food service director stole in exchange for her release.

WGN, ABC News, and CBS News all reported that Vera Liddell is in the Cook County Jail for theft and running a criminal business. She used to be the director of Harvey School District 152, which is near Chicago. According to the news sources, she pleaded guilty to the charges on August 9 and was given a nine-year prison term.

Cook County officials told WGN that Liddell, who is 68 years old, stole the huge amounts of meat that were meant to be take-home meals for students who were studying from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jones said on Twitter on Tuesday, “I’ll pay for the wings she stole to set her free.”

How did Vera Liddell get the wings?

ABC News reports that Liddell’s job was to place orders with Gordon Food Services, which is a major source for the school district. Police say she put in the orders and billed, but she kept the chicken wings from July 2020 to February 2022.

prosecutors told CBS News that Liddell ordered more than 11,000 cases of chicken wings from the food provider and then picked them up in a district storage van. This happened between August and November 2021.

At Liddell’s bond hearing in 2023, a proffer said, “The massive fraud began at the height of COVID, during a time when students were not allowed to be physically present in school.” “The school district continued to give the kids meals that their families could pick up, even though they were learning from home.”

According to ABC News, the chicken theft scheme was found in 2023 when an audit showed that the school district’s food service department had spent $300,000 more than it had planned for the whole school year.

The district’s business manager then found the bills for the chicken wings, which was strange because, according to court papers, students wouldn’t be given those kinds of foods because they have bones.

USA TODAY has tried to get in touch with Gordon Food Services and the school system but has not heard back.

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