DUBLIN — A Fremont man was sentenced to three years in a plea deal that required prosecutors to drop rape and kidnapping charges against him, court records show.

Jeremy Wilhite, 31, pleaded no contest to a single count of forcible oral copulation. He was formally sentenced last April, and transferred to North Kern State Prison in May, where he remains, records show.

Wilhite was arrested a year ago, but the underlying charges were from an incident in 2022. It all started when a teen girl allegedly escaped Wilhite’s Fremont apartment and ran — bruised, bloody, and nude — to a nearby Whole Foods, where workers assisted her.

She claimed she’d gotten a ride from Wilhite but that he took her to his apartment and kept her there, sexually assaulting her multiple times while holding her against her will. Wilhite disappeared after police identified him as a suspect. Authorities say he was reported missing by his own mother and that they briefly believed he had died, but in the summer of 2024 he turned up and was arrested on a $300,000 warrant.

The terms of Wilhite’s plea deal require him to register as a sex offender for life. He received about a year of credit for time served and must serve at least 85 percent of his remaining sentence. He was ordered to stay away from his victim for 10 years and the offense counts as a violent strike on his criminal record, court documents show.

Wilhite’s lawyer declined to comment.