By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A 56-year-old Alabaster man will spend the next couple of years in prison after he pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a child older than 12 during a year-and-a-half period between 2010-2012.

Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Dan Reeves sentenced James Gardner Moskot, who lists an address in the 100 block of Yachtsman Street in Alabaster, to 10 years in prison on Sept. 11, but split the sentence, meaning Moskot will serve two years in prison followed by five years of supervised probation.

Moskot received 272 days of jail credit for time he has served in the Shelby County Jail since his 2012 arrest.

The Alabaster Police Department arrested Moskot on May 25, 2012, and charged him with one count of sexual abuse of a minor. According to his arrest warrant, Moskot sexually abused a minor older than 12 years old from Jan. 1, 2010 until May 16, 2012.

While incarcerated, Moskot must complete a sex offender treatment program through the Alabama Department of Corrections or the Alabama Abuse Counseling Center and must avoid contact with the victim or her family. He must also “testify truthfully in any judicial proceeding” in the future.

Once released, Moskot must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.