By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A 40-year-old Montevallo man is facing up to a decade in prison after he was indicted on charges alleging he sexually abused an underage victim in 2014.

A Shelby County grand jury recently returned a three-count indictment against James Michael Hooie, who lists an address on Shelby County 84 in Montevallo and previously listed an address in Alabaster, upholding three felony counts of first-degree sexual abuse against him.

Hooie is now scheduled to appear in Shelby County Circuit Court on July 12 for his arraignment.

On Dec. 3, 2015, Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Dan Reeves bound three felony counts of first-degree sexual abuse against Alabaster resident James Michael Hooie over to a grand jury to consider “at its next available session.”

The Alabaster Police Department arrested Hooie on Dec. 14, 2014, and charged him with three felony counts of first-degree sexual abuse.

The charges came after Hooie allegedly molested an underage female victim multiple times between 2012 and Dec. 11, 2014, according to his arrest warrants.

According to Shelby County Jail records, Hooie was released from jail on bonds totaling $15,000 the same day he was arrested. However, he was booked back into the jail on Dec. 18, 2014, after the person who posted Hooie’s original bond surrendered him back to the jail.

Hooie has been out of jail since Dec. 28, 2015, after again posting bonds totaling $15,000.

First-degree sexual abuse is a Class C felony, and is punishable by up to 10 years in prison upon conviction.