- Vera Liddell was jailed for theft and operating a criminal enterprise
- The 68-year-old is currently serving nine years in prison
- Jones posted on social media that he would pay the $1.5m for Liddell to be freed
Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones has offered to pay $1.5m to free a woman from prison after she was found guilty of stealing $1.5m worth of chicken wings.
Vera Liddell, 68, served in the director role for Harvey School District 152 near Chicago, but was discovered to have been stealing food intended for school kids as take-home meals during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to WGN via USA Tdoay.
With children studying remotely during the pandemic, their families would pick up their orders as schools were still providing meals that the children would have ordinarily eaten during regular school days. Liddell was in charge of ordering these meals from Gordon Food Services, a main food supplier for the district, according to prosecutors.
Between July 2020 and February 2022 Liddell ordered 11,000 cases of chicken wings, placing the orders and doing the billing, but keeping the wings for herself. The 68-year-old picked the wings up in a district cargo van, reported CBS News, citing prosecutors. The theft was discovered in 2023 when it was realised via an audit that the district’s food service department had exceeded it’s budget by $300,000 halfway through the school year, according to ABC News.
The invoices for the chicken wings was found by the business manager for the district, who found the orders to be odd as wings would never have been ordered for children as they contain bones.
And, having been sentenced to nine years in Cook County Jail following a guilty plea to charges of theft and operating a criminal enterprise, Liddell’s story has been discovered by NFL star Jones, who is willing to pay the $1.5m in exchange for the 68-year-old’s freedom.
Taking to X, Jones quote tweeted a story about the wing theft, saying “I’ll pay for the wings that she stole to get her free.”
Gordon Food Services and the school district are yet to comment on the matter.
