Former BPD Officer Sentenced To 6 Months In Jail For Sexual Abuse

SHELBY COUNTY, AL - A former Birmingham police officer has been sentenced to serve six months in the Shelby County Jail after he pleaded guilty to one count of attempted sexual abuse of a child less than 12 years old and one count of first-degree rape. Joshua Herbinger was arrested in 2014, and surrendered to the jail on Tuesday to begin serving his sentence.

Herbinger, a former crime scene technician, was first arrested in October 2014 and charged with four counts of sexual abuse of a child less than 12 years old, according to an Alabama Media Group report. Alabaster Police Chief Curtis Rigney said the young female victim reported the abuse to the School Resource Officer at her school and police immediately launched their investigation which led to the felony warrants against him.

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Rigney said the victim was not related to Herbinger. The abuse, police said, is reported to have happened over the two to three years before his arrest. About two weeks later, Herbinger was arrested again, this time on the first-degree rape charge. Rigney said the victim was not in any kind of domestic relationship with Herbinger.

Herbunger was fired from the Birmingham Police Department shortly after his arrests.

Shelby County Circuit Judge William H. Bostick sentenced Herbinger to 10 years in prison with six months to serve in the jail on the rape charge. On the child sex abuse charge, Herbinger was sentenced to 60 months in prison with six months to serve in the county jail. He is to serve the two sentences concurrently. The remainder of the prison sentences will be suspended as long as Herbinger does not violate the terms of the plea agreement.