A U.S. Postal Service employee is facing federal fraud charges after prosecutors say she wrongfully pocketed inflated workers’ compensation benefits she didn’t qualify for — a case the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois revealed last month.
Graciela Venegas, 66, began collecting workers’ compensation benefits in 2012 after being injured while on the job with the U.S. Postal Service. By listing her spouse as a dependent, she qualified for higher payments. But the couple divorced a year later, in 2013 — and her former husband died the following year.
A federal indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago alleges that Venegas continued listing her spouse as a dependent long after the divorce — and even after his death. Prosecutors say that from 2013 through 2024, while still employed by the Postal Service, she collected boosted workers’ compensation checks that added an extra 8⅓ percent to her pre-injury monthly pay. In all, the indictment claims, Venegas knowingly pocketed $51,776 in benefits she was never entitled to receive.
Venegas, a Chicago resident, is charged with five counts of wire fraud and one count of knowingly making a false statement to the U.S. Department of Labor. Each wire fraud count carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison, while the false-statement charge is punishable by as much as five years. She is scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 6 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Laura K. McNally.
“The U.S. Postal Service paid $1.5 billion in workers’ compensation costs in fiscal year 2024, and the majority of postal employees who collect compensation benefits have legitimate claims due to on-the-job injuries,” said SAC Bishop. “However, a certain percentage abuse the system and cost the Postal Service millions of dollars in fraudulent claims and enforcement costs.”
