By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A 29-year-old Birmingham police officer who has been charged with several counts of sexual abuse of a child has been released from jail on bonds totaling $80,000, and is facing a Nov. 5 hearing at the Shelby County Courthouse.

Joshua Richard Herbinger, who lists an address on South Forty Road in Alabaster, was released from the Shelby County Jail after posting bond on Oct. 9, the same day he was arrested by the Alabaster Police Department and charged with four felony counts of sexual abuse of a child younger than 12.

“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. “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.”

Additional charges may be filed against Herbinger 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 a 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.