By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – A 29-year-old Alabaster resident and Birmingham police officer is now facing a first-degree rape charge in addition to four counts of sexual abuse of a child after the new charge was brought against him on Oct. 20.

The Alabaster Police Department announced the new charge against 29-year-old Joshua Richard Herbinger, who lists an address on South Forty Road in Alabaster on Oct. 21. The new charge is the result of an ongoing investigation into the Birmingham police officer.

As of 9:15 a.m. on Oct. 21, police had not released details of Herbinger’s new charge, and his arrest warrant had not yet been released in court documents.

Herbinger currently is being held in the Shelby County Jail on a $60,000 bond.

When he was arrested on Oct. 20, he was out on bond for four counts of sexual abuse of a child younger than 12, which were brought against him by Alabaster police on Oct. 9.

“A female student notified the SRO at her school of the allegations” Alabaster Police Chief Curtis Rigney wrote in a press release the day Herbinger was arrested on the sexual abuse charges. “Detectives were notified immediately, and the investigation has resulted in today’s arrest.”

According to Alabaster police, Herbinger had been a Birmingham police officer for about nine years before he was arrested.

According to his arrest warrants, Herbinger’s charges stemmed from multiple incidents between Jan. 1, 2011 and Oct. 7, 2014, during which he allegedly “touched (the victim’s) privates.”

Sexual abuse of a child younger than 12 is a Class B felony, and is punishable by up to 20 years in prison upon conviction.

First-degree rape is a Class A felony, and is punishable by up to life in prison upon conviction.