Guam's dental community is not immune to the threat of employee embezzlement. Prosperident, the world's leading dental embezzlement investigation firm, has documented cases from Guam that demonstrate the serious financial and personal harm that dishonest employees can inflict on dental practice owners. The case below illustrates how even a long-trusted employee can betray a dentist's confidence on a massive scale.
If you are a dentist practicing in Guam and have concerns about potential theft in your practice, Prosperident's investigators are available to help. Contact us for a confidential consultation.
Amount stolen: $1,150,430
Employment duration before discovery: 27 years
Theft period: January 2011 – September 2019
Sentence: 8 years federal imprisonment; $1,150,430 restitution to employer
Teresa Adamos Pereda worked as an office manager for Dr. Robert Gatewood's Guam dental clinic for 27 years before her theft was discovered. Over more than eight years, she wrote 284 fraudulent checks from the clinic's checking account, directing funds to herself and entities associated with her. Total losses to the practice exceeded $1.15 million. To conceal her scheme, Pereda falsified check stubs to make payments appear to be legitimate business expenses and manipulated the clinic's internal accounting records accordingly.
Pereda was prosecuted in the United States District Court of Guam. She pleaded guilty to bank fraud and was sentenced to eight years in federal prison. The court also ordered her to pay $1,150,430 in restitution to her former employer.
This case is notable not only for the scale of the theft but for the length of the employment relationship. Pereda had worked for Dr. Gatewood for nearly three decades — precisely the kind of long-tenured, deeply trusted employee that dental practice owners are statistically most likely to underestimate as a risk. Prosperident's research consistently shows that employee tenure and expressed loyalty are not reliable indicators of honesty.
View Teresa Adamos Pereda's full Hall of Shame entry →
Guam dental practices face the same embezzlement risks as practices on the mainland United States and in other jurisdictions. The combination of small team sizes, high trust relationships, and limited oversight creates conditions that dishonest employees routinely exploit. Prosperident's investigators have found that embezzlement is active in roughly one out of every three dental practices at any given time — and that the average case runs for several years before detection.
The Pereda case underscores several realities that Prosperident emphasizes to dental clients worldwide:
If you suspect embezzlement in your Guam dental practice — or simply want the peace of mind of knowing your finances are secure — Prosperident offers confidential consultations and full forensic investigations. Contact us today to speak with one of our investigators.