Phuong Nguyen of Massachusetts pleads guilty to embezzling $378k -- sentenced to 46 months in prison

For Phuong Nguyen ("Lisa") of Quincy, the scheme was simple.

Starting in 2006, she got jobs as an office or front desk manager for Quincy-area dental practices, forged insurance reimbursement checks with doctors’ names and deposited them to her accounts.

Now she has pleaded guilty in federal court to embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Phuong Nguyen, 32, was convicted late Thursday on three counts of uttering a forged security, one count of mail fraud and one count of wire fraud.

She’ll be sentenced on Sept. 13. By the terms of her plea agreement, she faces up to 51 months in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of up to $75,000, and restitution to the dental offices.

Phuong Nguyen was serial embezzler

Prosecutors said Phuong Nguyen repeated her scheme at four local offices, going from one to another. When she also had access to the practice’s checkbook, she would also forge doctors’ names to those and cash or deposit them.

In at least one case Nguyen was fired when her embezzlement was discovered.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office was assisted in the investigation by the U.S. Postal Service, the Norfolk and Suffolk County District Attorney’s offices and the state insurance fraud bureau.