A Chicken Way to Embezzle

In March 2020, much of the world shut down as COVID-19 ran rampant across the planet. Institutions of all types pivoted to adjust to an environment where people were staying home wherever possible. And for the Harvey School District 152 in the suburbs of Chicago, that meant offering a lunch takeout service. At the time, nearly all the students in the school district came from low-income families and, therefore, relied on the district’s free lunch program to help meet their basic nutritional needs. To keep serving the community, schools in the area changed how lunch would be served. As Cook County stated (via the New York Times), “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 itself didn’t change much. Supply chain issues aside, school districts were instructed to choose food options that were appropriate for children — for example, the food was to be nutritionally sound and unlikely to cause a choking incident.

Which is why one food services administrator, Vera Liddell, is in prison.

Ms. Liddell became the food service director for Harvey School District 152 in July 2020, just a few months into the pandemic. Her duties included ordering food, in bulk, from supplies of all stripes. And in January 2022, the district’s manager stumbled across an accounting issue. As WGN reported, “the manager found the district was $300,000 over its annual food service budget despite only being halfway through the school year.” Authorities investigated further.

And what they found were massive orders of chicken wings — a purchase that immediately set off alarm bells.

While most poultry products are perfectly appropriate for kids of all ages, chicken wings aren’t. In 2012, Congress passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which instituted nutritional requirements for school lunches. Per the New York Times, “meals must now be lower in fat, calories and sodium and contain lean proteins, more fruits and vegetables and whole grains,.” Chicken wings, especially bone-in wings often served with salty sauces, don’t fit easily within those standards. They’re also impractical for school cafeterias because the bones present a choking hazard for younger children.

Liddell, however, bought nearly $1.5 million worth of them.

Liddell, it turned out, had been keeping the wings for herself. And no, she almost certainly wasn’t just eating a lot of chicken. Over the course of about 19 months, Liddell purchased 11,000 cases of wings — that comes out to about 20 cases a day, way more than any one person can eat. Each case cost about $100, and authorities believed that Liddell was running a black market chicken wing business on the side. She was arrested and charged with theft.

In August 2024, Liddell pled guilty and was sentenced to nine years in prison. Prison food is notoriously bad — so it’s unlikely chicken wings will be on the menu.

Bonus fact: Embezzling chicken is illegal, but arbitraging it probably isn’t — which is why the owners of Sweet Dixie Kitchen in Long Beach, California, were perhaps embarrassed, but not imprisoned. For years, the restaurant served chicken and dumplings for breakfast and lunch, but didn’t actually make the chicken themselves. As ABC7 News reported, “a customer allegedly saw Sweet Dixie employees carrying Popeyes boxes into the kitchen,” and accused the restaurant of simply reselling the fast food fried chicken.

The accusation proved correct. The owner of the restaurant, Kimberly Sanchez, admitted to doing exactly that, telling ABC7 that “My kitchen is not set up for frying. We’re an old building. I don’t actually have a proper kitchen back there. I love Popeyes chicken. I love it. I think it’s the best chicken out there.” The restaurant continued with the practice thereafter — but asked Popeye’s permission to do so.

From the Archives: A Chicken &*#! Tax Policy: Literally.