A United States Postal Service employee has been indicted on federal fraud charges for allegedly collecting augmented workers’ compensation benefits to which she was not entitled, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Illinois announced last month.
Graciela Venegas, 66, began receiving workers’ compensation benefits in 2012 for an injury she sustained in the performance of her Postal Service duties. Venegas claimed her spouse as a dependent, which entitled her to receive augmented benefits. The couple divorced in 2013, and the ex-spouse then passed away in 2014.
An indictment in U.S. District Court in Chicago alleges that Venegas fraudulently continued to claim the spouse as a dependent after the divorce and death. From 2013 to 2024, while employed by the Postal Service, Venegas fraudulently received monthly augmented workers’ compensation payments amounting to an additional 8 and 1/3 percent of her pre-injury monthly pay, the indictment states. In total, Venegas fraudulently pocketed $51,776 in augmented benefits to which she knew she was not entitled, the indictment states…