A Clarke County dentist was sentenced to a year in jail for attempting to defraud the Alabama Medicaid Agency last year.

Victor Clarence Hawkins, 61, of Grove Hill, pleaded guilty Tuesday afternoon before Montgomery County District Judge Jimmy Pool to one count of attempting to file a false claim with the Medicaid Agency, a Class A misdemeanor.

The Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit had accused Hawkins of billing the Medicaid Agency for a dental procedure referred to as a pulpectomy, or partial root canal, for a pediatric dental procedure in June of 2011. A review of a post procedure x-ray revealed that the procedure had not been performed.

Judge Pool sentenced Hawkins to 12 months in the Montgomery County Jail, which was suspended, and placed Hawkins on 12 months of probation. As a part of the plea, Hawkins was permanently barred from participation as an Alabama Medicaid provider.