WHEELING, W.Va. -- An ex-Wheeling police officer will face separate trials with four women he's accused of sexually abusing, starting July 17.

The Intelligencer says Judge Arthur Recht calls it the fairest way to proceed in the cases against 32-year-old Matthew Kotson.

Kotson is free on bond until a June 11 hearing.

He was indicted in January on four counts of first-degree sexual abuse, three counts of second-degree sexual assault and one count of burglary.

Some of the alleged assaults date to 2007, three years after Kotson started with the Wheeling Police Department.

The investigation began last fall after a woman told State Police he'd assaulted her at her home.

Kotson was immediately suspended. He was fired Dec. 2 after peering in the window of a school where an alleged victim works.