By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A pair of sexual abuse charges brought against a 77-year-old Calera man have been dismissed after a jury recently found the man not guilty on all charges.

After a three-day trial in Shelby County Circuit Court in late October, the jury, which was composed of five white males and seven white females, found Calera resident Fred Wayne Horton not guilty on charges of first-degree sexual abuse and second-degree sexual abuse.

The jury reached its verdicts on Oct. 21, after the trial began on Oct. 19.

As a result of the not guilty verdicts, the two charges against Horton have been dropped, and his record has been cleared.

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office arrested Horton on Aug. 16, 2013, and charged him with first-degree sexual abuse in a case prosecutors said involved a minor victim.

Two weeks after posting a $30,000 bond, deputies arrested Horton again and charged him with one count of second-degree sexual abuse.

Horton pleaded not guilty to both charges in 2013.

In a letter to the Shelby County Reporter, Horton thanked his friends and family members for supporting him throughout the process.

“I want to thank (God) for all that has been done for me and my family in the time of our crises. I also want to thank all my friends and love(d) ones who supported us,” Horton wrote. “For your prayers, visits, phone calls and cards, I am so grateful. Also the sacrifices that many others had to (make), I thank you so very much.”