After spending five months in prison, a State College man accused of raping a Penn State student accepted a plea bargain Tuesday that involved dropping six of his charges and left him with a significantly lesser charge.

Maurice Golden, 26, pleaded guilty to a simple assault charge. His lawyer, Casey McClain, said it was an "offer he couldn't refuse."

Golden was accused by a student of forcing her to have sex with him Oct. 15, 2006 at his residence, 300 S. Atherton St., according to court documents. He initially faced seven charges, including rape, sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault, forcible compulsion, indecent assault, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person, according to court documents.

His deal involves dropping all charges except for simple assault, attorneys for both sides said. Simple assault carries a punishment of up to a year in prison.

Centre County Assistant District Attorney Lance Marshall said a plea agreement was offered after "reviewing the evidence" and would not comment further.

McClain said the alleged victim called him in October to tell him that she wanted the charges facing Golden to disappear and that she did not want Golden in jail.

According to the woman's initial statement to police, Golden attempted to choke her after the two argued about her not meeting him at a scheduled time earlier in the day. She said he then forced her to have sex after she had repeatedly told him "no," according to court documents.

Marshall, who said he was satisfied with the plea agreement, said he never talked to the woman about the calls she made asking for the charges to be dropped. He would not discuss the content of his conversations with her.

Golden was incarcerated Oct. 17 and continues to remain in prison despite the fact that one of the terms of the plea deal is Golden's immediate release on parole, McClain said.

Golden's bail was initially reduced from $200,000 to $25,000 during his preliminary hearing Oct. 25.

Centre County District Judge Thomas Jordan ruled that Golden would have to post $2,500 of the $25,000 to be released from prison.

After he received the calls from the alleged victim in October, McClain decided to file a motion asking a judge to further reduce Golden's bail from $2,500, allowing him to get out of prison.

"We're still working on getting him out," McClain said.

Golden is currently being held at Centre County Correctional Facility, where he has been for five months now, meaning that he has already served the minimum time for the simple assault charge, Marshall said.

Golden could serve up to seven more months if he is not paroled in accordance with the plea deal, which would be determined by a judge, he said.

McClain said Golden has no intention of taking action against his accuser at this time.

"Maurice holds no grudge whatsoever," he said. "He just wants to get out of State College and get on with his life."