HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) - A German national who was extradited to Maryland on a 10-year-old rape charge has avoided trial by pleading guilty to first-degree assault.

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Fifty-one-year-old businessman Klaus Von Mahr entered the plea Wednesday in Washington County Circuit Court in Hagerstown. Prosecutors dropped all other charges.

He faces up to 25 years in prison at his sentencing Aug. 2.

Von Mahr acknowledged he bound, beat and choked a woman in November 2000 while living in Hagerstown. After she reported the assault, he fled to Germany despite having lived in the United States since age 11.

Von Mahr was arrested in the Czech Republic in October after applying for a driver's license.

He has been held without bond since his return to the United States in March.