By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A 38-year-old Alabaster man who is facing a felony child sex abuse charge remains in the Shelby County Jail, and is awaiting trial on the charges, according to documents filed in Shelby County Circuit Court.

The Alabaster Police Department arrested Roberto Grimaldo Villalobos on Aug. 12, 2013, and charged him with one felony count of sexual abuse of a child younger than 12 after the victim’s mother reported her child had allegedly been molested by the suspect. Villalobos lists an address on Simmsville Road in Alabaster.

At the time of Villalobos’ arrest, Alabaster Police Chief Curtis Rigney said police did not believe there were any other victims in the case.

A Shelby County grand jury indicted Villalobos on the felony charge in June 2014, and his case was declared trial-ready on Nov. 3, 2014, according to court documents. The case will be set for the court’s “next available pre-trial docket,” according to an order from Circuit Court Judge Dan Reeves. As of Jan. 28, no trial date had been set.

Villalobos has remained in the Shelby County Jail on a $30,000 bond since his 2013 arrest.

According to Alabama law, a person “commits the crime of sexual abuse of a child less than 12 years old if he or she, being 16 years old or older, subjects another person who is less than 12 years old to sexual contact.”

Sexual abuse of a child younger than 12 is a Class B felony. If convicted of the crime, Villalobos could face between two and 20 years in prison.