By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A 47-year-old Birmingham man who previously registered as a sex offender will spend the next few years in prison after he pleaded guilty recently to the attempted sexual abuse of a child younger than 12.

Jonathan Joseph Risko III, who lists an address in Lake Heather Reserve in Birmingham, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted sexual abuse of a child younger than 12 during a late-August hearing in front of Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Bill Bostick.

Through a plea agreement with prosecutors, Risko’s original charge of sexual abuse of a child younger than 12 was reduced to attempted sexual abuse of a child. Through the plea agreement, one of the two failure to register as a sex offender charges against Risko was also dropped.

Risko received 1,074 days of jail credit for time served in the Shelby County Jail between his 2014 arrest and his sentencing date.

Bostick originally sentenced Risko to 20 years in prison, but split the sentence to five years in prison followed by two years of supervised probation. Risko also must avoid initiating contact with the victim in the case.

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office arrested Risko on Sept. 22, 2014, and charged him with the sex abuse of a child and failure to register as a sex offender crimes. The Alabaster Police Department assisted in the case, according to court documents.

According to his arrest warrant, Risko subjected a child younger than 12 to sexual contact in 2014.

Risko was residing with the victim when the offense occurred, which was a violation of the sex offender status placed on him after he was convicted in 1997 in Florida of assault and sexual battery of a child.

Risko also had been convicted of failure to register as a sex offender in Bibb County in 2006.