By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – A 29-year-old Birmingham police officer has been charged with four counts of sexual abuse of a child younger than 12 after an Alabaster student notified her school resource officer of the alleged abuse.

The Alabaster Police Department arrested Joshua Herbinger, who lists an address on South Forty Road in Alabaster, on Oct. 9 and charged him with the four felony crimes.

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

Herbinger, who has been a Birmingham police officer for about nine years, currently is being held in the Shelby County Jail on bonds totaling $80,000. Additional charges may be filed in the future, according to Alabaster police.

Anyone with information concerning the case is asked to call the Alabaster Police Department at 663-7401 and ask to speak to detective Andrew Pounds.

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.