Monday, May 30, 2011

Massachusetts Woman Pleads Guilty To Embezzling "Hundreds of Thousands" of Dollars From Local Dental Practices

Phuong “Lisa” Nguyen, 32, of Quincy, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty to charges she embezzled "hundreds of thousands" of dollars from four unidentified dental practices where she had been employed as a an office manager or front desk manager. According to authorities, since 2006, Nguyen obtained a series of administrative positions at the four dental offices where she forged insurance reimbursement checks or in some cases, forged the doctor's signature on practice checks for her own benefit. Nguyen was reportedly fired from one of the jobs when the embezzlement was discovered. Nguyen, who plead guilty to three counts of uttering a forged security, one count of mail fraud, and one count of wire fraud is due to be sentenced on September 13, 2011 and faces up to 51 months in prison, plus restitution and fines.

Read the story here.

Read the DOJ announcement of her guilty plea here.

Update (10/21/11): Nguyen, now 33, has been sentenced to 46 months in prison for embezzling what has now been determined to be $378,624.  She must also pay restitution. 

1 comment:

William Hiltz said...

The majority of dental offices are ripe environments for embezzlement; that's why the indcidents are so high. (published stats say 60% of dentists will be hit at least once during their career)

What's interesting is that "Lisa" was a Serial Embezzler; hopping from office to office. This is not unusual, we've seen many of these of these over the years and always caution dentists to make sure they conduct appropriate employment pre-screening.

Regards,

Bill
www.prosperident.com