ST. CLAIRSVILLE — A former Union Local assistant girls’ basketball coach accused of sexual battery of a student was arraigned Wednesday and pleaded innocent to the charges.

Joby Barr, 31, of 205 Church St., Morristown entered the plea to four counts of sexual battery, a third-degree felony. He appeared before Belmont County Common Pleas Judge John Vavra, who set a plea agreement hearing date of Dec. 13 and trial Jan. 11. Barr’s bond was set at $10,000.

“We’re not releasing anything except that the victim was a student at the school,” Belmont County Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan said. “This happened last school year, and he was under contract as a coach at the school. That’s all we’re releasing.”

Flanagan said the charge of sexual battery is applicable due to the authority Barr had over the alleged victim. In the interest of protecting the victim’s identity, Flanagan would give no further information about the circumstances of the alleged offenses.

“You give out too many of those details … a lot of people will pick up on who it is, and we’re trying to avoid that,” he said. “We don’t want anyone to know who our victim is, just to protect the integrity of the victim and the investigation.”

Barr was arrested last week.

“It was brought to the attention of the sheriff’s department, who started the investigation,” Flanagan said.

Flanagan noted that Barr is no longer under contract with the district. Barr faces a maximum of five years in prison for each count — a potential 20-year sentence if he were to be convicted on all counts.

“That depends upon a person’s criminal history and a bunch of other factors,” Flanagan said.

If convicted, Barr would be designated a Tier 2 sex offender.