Kansas City Chiefs’ DE Chris Jones offers to pay off chicken wing thief’s $1.5 million debt

Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Chris Jones is in the news after he made an unusual offer. Jones said he is ready to pay $1.5 million to free an Illinois school worker arrested for stealing chicken wingers. 

Vera Lidell, who was once the Director of Food Services for Harvey School District in Dolton, Illinois, is serving a nine-year prison sentence for her role in a huge food theft operation. 

Liddell, was the mastermind behind the scheme where she allegedly swiped a whooping $1.5 million worth of food; mostly chicken wings-over a two-year period. The mind-boggling plot involved Lidell placing different orders for the wings through the district’s food provider, Gordon Food Service, under the guise of normal school operations. 

All of this happened between July 2020 and February 2022, when schools were closed due to the pandemic, yet food orders continued to come in. 

An audit eventually revealed the discrepancy. It showed that the district was hundreds of thousands of dollars over budget halfway through the year. The startling discovery led to Lidell’s arrest on multiple charges. Her charges include forgery, felony theft, and running a financial crime enterprise. 

The horrifying nature of the crime has caused it to go viral on the internet, with many asking “How do you steal $1.5 million in chicken wings?”

In all of this saga, Chiefs’ Chris Jones took an interest in the case. Jones, who recently got a $158 million contract extension, has reportedly offered to pay the $1.5 million Lidell stole. He hopes it might reduce or eliminate her prison sentence. 

“I’ll pay for the wings that she stole to get her free,” Jones announced on X, turning a wild story into an internet sensation.