PAPILLION, Neb. (AP) — A former Sarpy County sheriff’s deputy who faced a misdemeanor sexual assault charge has pleaded no contest to a lesser charge.

Fifty-three-year-old Rick Wheeler has pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of public indecency. It’s punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

He had faced up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine if he was found guilty of the original charge of third-degree sexual assault.

Wheeler was accused of inappropriately touching a woman in September at a Papillion bar.

Wheeler was a sergeant who’d worked 26 years for the sheriff’s office. He was fired afterward.

Court records show he’s appealing a decision by the county merit commission that upheld his termination.

Wheeler will be sentenced in May.