Downers Grove Office Manager Judy Strzelecki Charged With Billing Insurers $1.8 Million for Cancer Survivors' Equipment Never Provided

Case from 2024 (U.S. Attorney's Office release: July 18, 2024). Published on Scammers.com Oct. 16, 2026; case status is current as of that date.

Judy Strzelecki, 73, of Downers Grove, Illinois, has been charged with seven counts of health care fraud. Prosecutors allege she billed private insurers for breast prostheses, compression garments, wigs and other products for cancer survivors that were never provided or were not provided as billed, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois announced July 18, 2024 [1]. She has not been convicted. An indictment is an accusation, and she is presumed innocent.

What the indictment alleges

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office [1]:

1. The business. Strzelecki was office manager of A Woman's Place LLC, a medical equipment provider and retail shop in Downers Grove. It supplied breast prostheses, compression garments, wigs, mastectomy bras and other items to cancer survivors and women with chronic health conditions.
2. Alleged false claims. From 2015 to 2020, Strzelecki and others allegedly billed Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois and other health care benefit programs for equipment that was either not provided or not medically necessary.
3. Alleged upcoding. They also allegedly billed for more expensive products than they actually provided, to get higher reimbursements.
4. Alleged total. The indictment alleges they obtained at least $1.8 million for equipment that was not provided as billed.

The release does not name anyone else as charged.

Where the case stands

• Charges: seven counts of health care fraud. Each carries up to 10 years in prison, and restitution is mandatory on conviction [1].
• Court: U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, No. 1:24-cr-00337, before U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey [2].
• Proceedings: the docket shows an arraignment and initial appearance held July 24, 2024, followed by routine status entries through Sept. 2, 2025 [2].
• Outcome: Status pending; no later outcome found in public sources as of Oct. 16, 2026.
• Investigation: the FBI and the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration [1].

Red flags

• Insurance statements (EOBs) listing items you never got, or more expensive versions than you received.
• Repeated "replacement" prostheses or garments billed more often than you've had them replaced.
• A supplier asking you to sign delivery forms for items not yet handed over.

What to do

1. Read every Explanation of Benefits from your insurer and compare it with what you actually received.
2. Call your insurer's fraud line about any charge you don't recognize. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois and other insurers run special investigations units.
3. Report health care fraud involving employer health plans to the Department of Labor's EBSA at askebsa.dol.gov or to the FBI at tips.fbi.gov.

Case status (as of Oct. 16, 2026)

Defendant	Court	Status as of Oct. 16, 2026	Source
Judy Strzelecki, 73, Downers Grove, Ill.	N.D. Ill. (1:24-cr-00337)	Charged (indicted July 2024, 7 counts of health care fraud); presumed innocent; no later outcome found in public sources as of Oct. 16, 2026	[1], [2]

Sources

1. U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois, "Office Manager for Suburban Chicago Medical Equipment Boutique Indicted on Federal Health Care Fraud Charges," July 18, 2024. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/office-manager-suburban-chicago-medical-equipment-boutique-indicted-federal-health
2. CourtListener, United States v. Strzelecki, No. 1:24-cr-00337 (N.D. Ill.), docket. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68939648/united-states-v-strzelecki/

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