A 33-year-old man accused of sexually assaulting a woman he picked up at Mohegan Sun in March 2014 pleaded guilty to a reduced charge Friday in New London Superior Court.

Demetrius A. Carswell Sr., 33, will be sentenced November 6 to two years in prison followed by five years of probation.

He has been held in lieu of $200,000 since Norwich Police arrested him in March 2014 and will receive credit, at sentencing, for time he already has served.

Carswell appeared before Judge Hillary B. Strackbein to accept a plea deal that had been worked out by his attorney, Jerome Paun, and prosecutor Theresa Anne Ferryman.

While he initially was charged with first-degree kidnapping, first-degree sexual assault, first-degree unlawful restraint, second-degree threatening and third-degree assault, he pleaded guilty only to the unlawful restraint charge.

"It was a difficult case in terms of establishing a timeline of events," Ferryman said. "There was some confusion due to alcohol consumption."

Carswell pleaded guilty under the Alford Doctrine, indicating he did not agree with the state's version of events but did not want to risk receiving a harsher sentence if convicted at trial.

He will be required to register as a sex offender while on probation.

The alleged victim, a 32-year-old woman, told police she became separated from her friends at the casino and asked Carswell for a ride home.

She said he drove her to a parking lot behind Big Harry's Discount Liquors at 526 W. Thames St., threatened to shoot her and sexually assaulted her in his minivan.

He told her during the attack, "I have AIDS," according to the affidavit.

He drove back toward the casino, stopped at a traffic light on Route 32 and told the woman to "get the (expletive) out of the car."

The woman said a man picked her up and drove her back to Mohegan Sun, where she called her friends.

Confronted by police the next morning, Carswell admitted he had gone to Mohegan Sun but said he "blacked out" and didn't remember what happened.

Ferryman said the casino produced surveillance video showing the victim being guided into the car at the casino and there was other physical evidence linking Carswell to the crime, but the issue of consent likely would be raised at trial due to the consumption of alcohol.

k.florin@theday.com

Twitter: @KFLORIN