Office Manager for Suburban Chicago Medical Equipment Boutique Indicted on Federal Health Care Fraud Charges

CHICAGO - The office manager for a suburban Chicago medical equipment boutique has been indicted on federal health care fraud charges for allegedly billing private insurers for products that were never provided, including breast prostheses, compression garments, and wigs for cancer survivors.

JUDY STRZELECKI served as the office manager for A Woman's Place LLC, a durable medical equipment provider and retail shop in Downers Grove, Ill. A Woman's Place provided breast prostheses, compression garments, wigs, mastectomy bras, and other items to cancer survivors and women with chronic health conditions. From 2015 to 2020, Strzelecki and others submitted fraudulent claims to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois and other health care benefit programs for equipment that was either not provided or was not medically necessary, according to an indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Strzelecki and others also fraudulently billed the programs for more expensive products than were provided in order to seek higher reimbursement rates, the indictment states.

As a result of the scheme, Strzelecki and others fraudulently obtained at least $1.8 million in payments from health care programs for equipment that was not provided as billed, the indictment states.

Strzelecki, 73, of Downers Grove, Ill., is charged with seven counts of health care fraud. Each count is punishable by up to ten years in federal prison, and restitution is mandatory. Arraignment is set for July 23, 2024, at 10:45 a.m., before U.S. Magistrate Judge M. David Weisman.

The indictment was announced by Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Lucas Rothaar, Acting Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI, and Rubén R. Chapa, Regional Director of the Chicago Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Misty N. Wright.

The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.