By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A 36-year-old Alabaster man who has been charged with subjecting a victim “to sexual contact by forcible compulsion” in 2016 is set to stand trial on the charge in early February, according to scheduling documents filed in Shelby County Circuit Court.

Cesar Wilfred Abarca, who lists an address on Mangrove Drive in Alabaster, is set to stand trial on the first-degree sexual abuse charge in front of Circuit Court Judge William Bostick beginning on Feb. 11. He appeared in court for a pre-trial docket call on Jan. 7, and will appear in court for a plea date on Jan. 28.

The Alabaster Police Department arrested Abarca on Sept. 27, 2016, which was seven days after a Shelby County grand jury indicted him on one count of first-degree sexual abuse.

Abarca’s arrest warrant claimed he allegedly did “intentionally subject (the victim) to sexual contact by forcible compulsion” on July 11, 2016.

Abarca was released from the Shelby County Jail the same day he was arrested after posting a $60,000 bond, according to Shelby County District Court documents.

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