THIS IS DENTAL EMBEZZLEMENT

The information in this post was obtained from:

• The Superior Court of California, Orange County and PACER https://pacer.uscourts.gov/
• Social Media https://www.facebook.com/carmen.duran.39
• An interview with the Dentist (who wishes to remain anonymous)

Few cases of dental embezzlement actually make news headlines.

Fact is, most embezzlement cases stay buried in public court records where they are often forgotten about over time.

Such was the case of Carmen Cox. Her case did not make any headlines, but maybe it should have.

Carmen Frances Cox (also known as Carmen Duran) was employed by a dentist in California for many years.

Over time, Carmen gained the trust of her employer. She appeared to work hard, seemed reliable and always willing to take on greater financial responsibilities in the practice.

Trust , Time and Control. Three of the essential ingredients for embezzlement.

Ultimately, Carmen betrayed her employer’s trust and began stealing, causing the dentist significant financial harm and several years of unwelcome courtroom drama.

When the dust finally settled, Cox had stolen in excess of $100,000 and the actual loss was estimated to be well north of $300,000.

HOW DID COX EMBEZZLE?

Carmen Cox used various schemes to defraud; including:

• entering false payments in the Dentrix software to create the illusion of balance.
• forging checks on the dentist’s business account.
• falsifying 401(k) deposits in her favor.
• submitting insurance claims for treatment that the dentist did not perform and had the payments sent to her address. 
• falsifying withdrawals from the practice owner’s Health Savings Account, and continued to withdraw money for 6 months after her employment was terminated.
• paid her own credit card with company funds and deleted/adjusted the accounting entries to hide the theft.

When was COX caught?

Around Jan 2017 the dentist discovered that Cox was forging checks from the practice’s account.

This marked the beginning of a calamitous chain of events that played out several years before Cox was held accountable and brought to justice.

At the same time, the dentist also went through a long and drawn out civil suit against Cox claiming restitution of the money she stole.

COX plead guilty to Six felonies

On 08/02/21, Cox plead guilty to six felony counts.

The court did not sentence Cox at the maximum allowable, and chose instead to sentence Cox to 90 days in jail, which was later reduced to 60 days, then followed by 2 years of probation, which ended on 08/02/2023.

The Orange County Superior Court also ordered Cox to pay restitution. (Download a copy of the California Offender Restitution Guide )

A Case Summary from the OC COURT is shown below:

2022- Cox Filed for Bankruptcy

Cox’s current address is in Arizona, and below are court records where Cox is named obtained from the the Arizona Bankruptcy Court.