By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A 28-year-old Alabaster man is set to appear in Shelby County Circuit Court in March after a grand jury recently upheld a child sex abuse charge against him involving a 4-year-old victim.

The grand jury returned the one-count indictment against Brandon Matthew Bryson, who lists an address on 14^th Street Southwest in Alabaster, during its January term, upholding the felony sexual abuse of a child charge originally brought against him in 2016.

The Alabaster Police Department arrested Bryson on May 16 and charged him with one felony count of sexual abuse of a child younger than 12.

The charge is a Class B felony, according to Alabama law, and is punishable by up to 20 years in prison upon conviction.

According to his arrest warrant, Bryson allegedly did “subject a person who is less than 12 years old to sexual contact” on April 7, 2016. The victim was 4 years old, according to the warrant.

According to court documents, Bryson pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge in 2009 and completed a term in the Shelby County Drug Court.

Bryson was released from the Shelby County Jail the same day he was arrested after posting a $15,000 bond.

He is now scheduled to appear in Shelby County Circuit Court for an arraignment in front of Circuit Court Judge William Bostick on March 12.