By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

A 23-year-old Alabaster man was released from the Shelby County Jail on bonds totaling $30,000 after he was arrested by the Alabaster Police Department and charged with raping two 15-year-old girls.

Cory James Spangler, who lives in the 1300 block of Eighth Street, was charged with two counts of second-degree rape after he was arrested by a patrol officer on June 17 on a public intoxication charge.

“A patrol officer arrested him for public intoxication on that same day, and our investigators had already gotten a pair of rape warrants on him,” said Alabaster police Deputy Chief Curtis Rigney, noting the department brought the rape charges against Spangler after he was brought in for the public intoxication charge.

The charges came after police said Spangler raped two teenage girls in May.

Rigney said he viewed Spangler as a “predator on young girls,” and said more charges are pending further investigation.

“He woos these girls in, sometimes with drugs, and he gets involved in almost a dating relationship where (the girls) are dependent on him,” Rigney said. “These girls are 15 and he is 23. It doesn’t matter if the girls consent to sex, it’s still illegal when they are that young.

“We take these charges extremely seriously,” Rigney added.

Rigney said the department is still looking for any adult or child who has had contact with Spangler to call the Alabaster Police Department at 663-7401.