SANDPOINT — A Sandpoint man accused of lewd conduct and other child sex abuse offenses pleaded guilty to rape on Friday.

Dustin Oneal Walden entered the plea as part of a pretrial settlement agreement, court records show. The plea was entered during a pretrial conference in 1st District Court.

After the hearing, Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall said he is recommending a 15-year prison term, the first five years of which would be fixed.

The state and the defense seek to bind the court to the agreement, which would essentially guarantee that the sentencing recommendation would be adopted by the court.

Judge Barbara Buchanan advised the defense that there was no obvious reason she could not bind herself to the pact, but said she didn’t want to commit until she had a chance to review a pending psychosexual evaluation, according to court documents.

If the court ultimately declines to bind itself to the agreement, Walden would be free to rescind his plea and proceed to trial in 1st District Court.

Walden, 38, was originally charged with lewd and lascivious conduct, sexual abuse of a minor under the age of 16 and rape. He was accused of engaging in sexual contact with a girl from 2003 to 2013, when she was between the ages of 3-13, a criminal complaint alleges. The alleged victim told Sandpoint Police that Walden had groomed her for years by exposing her to pornography and an escalating degrees of sexual abuse, according to a probable cause affidavit that has since been stricken from public view.

Walden waived his right to a preliminary hearing last month and pleaded not guilty to the charges late last year.

Walden was prosecuted for lewd conduct in Boundary County in 1998, but the charge was reduced to misdemeanor battery as the case neared trial, according to the Idaho Supreme Court Data Repository.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.