A former Virginia Military Institute cadet accused of raping a female classmate earlier this year in a barracks storage room was convicted Tuesday of a lesser charge of misdemeanor sexual battery, and he may not have to serve any jail time for the crime.

In Rockbridge County Circuit Court, Stephen Lloyd, 22, of Mason Neck, Va., accepted an agreement in which he entered an Alford plea, not admitting guilt but conceding that the state had enough evidence to convict him. In addition to reducing the rape charge to sexual battery, the prosecutor dropped a sodomy charge.

The plea agreement, reached Monday night, has the consent of the victim, said Rockbridge County Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Joyce. "She's still at VMI and wants to move on with her life."

Joyce added that he agreed to the deal because he wasn't certain he could convict the young man of rape.

Judge Michael Irvine postponed sentencing Lloyd for three years, and if Lloyd has no further run-ins with the law, he will never be sentenced, Joyce said. "If we don't have any complaints, he won't necessarily have to come back."

Misdemeanor sexual battery carries a maximum punishment of 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine.

Lloyd is now a member of the National Guard and was serving in Sandston, Va., earlier this year, according to court documents filed in July. Lloyd was scheduled to graduate in May, but after the March 28 incident he was dismissed from school.

Lloyd is the first male cadet to face criminal charges for sexually assaulting a female cadet since VMI began admitting women in 1997.

"This has been difficult for everyone involved," VMI spokesman Lt. Col. Stewart MacInnis said Tuesday. "But we just hope everyone can move on."

According to the female cadet's testimony at a court hearing earlier this year, she and Lloyd had a sexual relationship but it had ended months before the March incident. She said she had been drinking rum and tequila with another cadet -- against institute policies -- on the evening of March 27, and went to her room and fell asleep about 10:30 p.m.

She said Lloyd entered her room shortly after midnight on March 28 and woke her, and she accompanied him to an outdoor smoking area. On the way back, she said, Lloyd grabbed her wrist, pulled her into the unlocked storage room, raped her repeatedly and forced her to perform oral sex on him. She testified that she repeatedly told Lloyd no.

The Roanoke Times does not identify victims of alleged sexual assaults.

Joyce said he is satisfied that Lloyd has a sexual conviction on his record, and he's comfortable with the plea agreement. "It boiled down to 'he said, she said,' and a lack of corroborating scientific evidence and no witnesses -- and no statement was ever obtained from him," Joyce said. "There was a dearth of corroborating evidence."

Lloyd's attorney could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening.