Spanish Fort dentist Robert Pierre Antoine Louis, 57, pleaded guilty on Thursday to three counts of attempting to defraud the Alabama Medicaid Agency.

Louis approached school administrators in Butler, Lowndes and Conecuh counties in the fall of 2008 and offered to perform free dental screenings, but subsequently billed the state’s medicaid agency for services. Louis and the staff of Evergreen Dental visited W.O. Parmer Elementary and Greenville Elementary in October 2008.

Officials with the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit alleged that Louis had not performed the services for which he billed or that the services were not eligible for reimbursement.

Louis was sentenced to one year imprisonment on each count, to run concurrently, by Judge Truman Hobbs. Hobbs suspended the sentence and placed Louis on probation for six years. As part of the plea agreement, Louis surrendered his dental license and will be barred for life for reapplying for a dental license in Alabama.

“Once again our Medicaid Fraud Control Unit has acted to protect Alabama’s scarce resources for those who are most in need,” said Attorney General Troy King. “This latest case is proof: we remain vigilant against those who would exploit taxpayers’ funds and defraud state agencies.”

Louis operated dental clinics in Fort Deposit and Evergreen.