Optometry

Newport News woman charged with practicing optometry without a license, forging prescriptions

Source: WTKR News 3

Christine Lee Kim, a 26-year-old employee at N2 Eyes Comprehensive Optometry, Inc. in Newport News, Virginia, exploited her position by stealing over fifty pairs of glasses and sunglasses from the practice. Discovered during an inventory check on August 12th, the theft prompted police involvement, revealing Kim's more elaborate schemes: she impersonated a licensed optometrist, saw patients after hours without the owner's knowledge, and forged prescriptions to facilitate her fraud. Kim was already in jail on unrelated charges when authorities formally charged her on November 8th with one count of embezzlement, plus multiple counts of forging prescriptions, unlawful practice of optometry, and practicing a profession without a license.

The case came to light through routine inventory, highlighting how thieves can operate undetected until discrepancies appear. Kim now faces significant legal consequences, though specific sentencing details were not reported. Practice owners can learn from this by implementing strict access controls, regular audits, verifying employee credentials, and monitoring after-hours activity to prevent similar insider threats.

employee fraud
embezzlement
optometry
practice theft
internal controls

How to Protect Your Optometry Practice

  • Keep retail sales, refunds, and deposit preparation in separate hands so no one controls the full cash cycle.
  • Perform regular physical inventory counts of frames, lenses, and contacts and reconcile them to recorded sales.
  • Review every refund, discount, and voided point-of-sale transaction, and require manager approval above a set threshold.
  • Reconcile insurance and vision-plan payments to deposits monthly instead of assuming the ledger is accurate.
  • Use continuous monitoring like Dolos to catch POS manipulation and inventory shrinkage as it occurs.
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