Woman Steals $1.5M Worth of Chicken Wings, Goes to Prison

Problem gambling can often push people into different crimes. From theft, fraud or forgery, some gamblers may even resort to violent crimes in order to obtain funds to fuel their unhealthy habit. In one recent criminal case, a 68-year-old woman was sentenced to nearly 10 years in prison over stealing food products with a value of $1.5 million.

The peculiar case from Illinois involves a woman with the initials V.L., who used to hold the role of a food director for schools in Southern Chicago. Earlier this month, the 68-year-old woman pleaded guilty to felony theft. The former school food director admitted to stealing more than 11,000 cases of chicken wings with a value of approximately $1.5 million.

The thefts occurred between July 2020 and February 2022 with the scheme being uncovered later on in 2022. Patrick O’Byrne, the 68-year-old woman’s lawyer, who was interviewed by People last week, admitted that his client has a gambling problem. He said that the woman went to church regularly and had no prior criminal record whatsoever.

In the words of O’Byne: “She’s just a little sweetheart that’s got a gambling problem. She feels beyond terrible about this. This is totally uncharacteristic of her. It was the disease taking over.”

Following the woman’s guilty plea, she was sentenced to nine years in prison by Judge Michele Pitman with the Circuit Court of Cook County’s Sixth Municipal District.

Kansas City Chiefs’ Star Offers to Repay the Stolen Goods, Keep the Woman Out of Prison

Once local media outlets reported the peculiar case, Chris Jones, the NFL star, went to his personal page on X, formerly Twitter, to submit an unexpected proposal. The famous defensive tackle for the Kansas City Chiefs offered to repay the sum stolen by the 68-year-old woman. “I’ll pay for the wings that she stole to get her free,” he wrote.

It is unclear whether or not Jones’ offer can be accomplished or if it will make any difference, considering that the former Illinois school worker was already sentenced to prison.

An investigation uncovered that in July 2020, the 68-year-old woman first started to abuse her role. During the time when schools were shut down due to the pandemic, there were still meals provided for underprivileged students.

This is when the former school worker started submitting thousands of orders for chicken wings from a local school district supplier. Overall, the 68-year-old stole some 11,000 cases of chicken wings with a value of $1.5 million.

No data suggests where the former school worker had taken the boxes of chicken wings, but she was recorded by CCTV using the school district’s van. In light of her addiction, the woman gambled away the proceeds from the unlawful activity.