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KC Chiefs star offers to pony up $1.5 million to free Illinois school worker chicken wing thief

August 14, 2024 | | Print Article

Star NFL defensive lineman Chris Jones offered to serve up $1.5 million of his own money to free a former Illinois school worker who was sentenced to 9 years behind bars for stealing chicken wings.

In a case that made national headlines, 66-year-old Vera Liddell used her position as food service director at Harvey School District 152 to heist $1.5 million in food products over a two-year period from July 2020 until February 2022 during the COVID pandemic, with most of it being chicken wings.

She pleaded guilty last week and now the Kansas City Chiefs’ human wrecking ball wants to help spring her from the slam.

“I’ll pay for the wings that she stole to get her free,” the three-time Super Bowl winner wrote in a Tuesday post to X.

According to court records, Liddell was accused of placing orders for more than 11,000 cases of wings from the school district’s food provider and picking up the order in a cargo van belonging to the district with the thievery being uncovered by the business manager during a mid-year audit.

X users reacted to Jones’ offer to make the school district whole in exchange for Liddell’s freedom with some pointing out that she stole from taxpayers with her criminal enterprise.

But others were down with it.

“The massive fraud began at the height of COVID during a time when students were not allowed to be physically present in school,” read a proffer presented at Liddell’s bond hearing last year, according to WGN Chicago. “Even though the children were learning remotely, the school district continued to provide meals for the students that their families could pick up.”

“The food was never brought to the school or provided to the students,” the document read.

Jones and the Chiefs agreed to a new $158.75 million, five-year deal in March. The Chiefs will begin their quest for a third consecutive championship in a nationally televised home game against the Baltimore Ravens on September 5.

Chris Donaldson
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