By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

COLUMBIANA – A 54-year-old Alabaster man who is facing charges of allegedly shooting a victim during a December 2014 robbery has been sentenced to seven years in prison after his probation was revoked on a previous drug charge.

Shelby County Circuit Court Judge Dan Reeves ordered Sylvester Alan Rhine’s probation to be revoked on a previous felony unlawful possession of a controlled substance charge Rhine pleaded guilty to in December 2011.

After he pleaded guilty to the drug charge in 2011, Reeves sentenced him to a total of seven years, but split the sentence between one year in prison and three years of supervised probation.

While he was on probation for the drug charge, Rhine was arrested by the Alabaster Police Department on charges of first-degree robbery and second-degree assault in December 2014.

During an April 14 probation revocation hearing, an Alabaster police officer described the situation leading up to Rhine’s arrest on the robbery and assault charges. According to the officer, he responded to a call of shots fired off Fifth Avenue Southeast on Dec. 30, 2014.

Witnesses said Rhine allegedly was fighting with a white male inside a shed when two gunshots rang out. The white male then fled from the shed bleeding, got in his vehicle and left the scene.

Witnesses claimed Rhine demanded the white male give him “the stuff” or “his stuff” before the two wrestled over a gun and the white male was shot in the hand.

“The court is … reasonably satisfied that the defendant attempted to commit the crime of robbery 1^st and in the course of that robbery did commit the crime of assault 2^nd,” read Reeves’ order, which reinstated Rhine’s entire seven-year prison sentence for violating his probation on the 2011 drug charge.

Rhine was indicted earlier this year on the first-degree robbery and second-degree assault charges, and has pleaded not guilty to both charges.

He is scheduled to appear in Shelby County Circuit Court for arraignment on the robbery and assault charges on July 7 at 8:30 a.m.