The former senior deputy coroner of Lake County pleaded guilty to a single count of criminal sexual assault this morning in a deal that will land him a seven-year prison sentence.

Robert Barrett, of Lindenhurst, could have faced eight to 30 years in prison if he had gone to trial and been convicted on the two counts with which he was initially charged, Assistant State’s Attorney Fred Day said.

Barrett, then the senior deputy county coroner, was arrested in January at the coroner’s office in Waukegan and later was charged with sexually assaulting a teenage girl.

The victim “didn’t have to withstand a trial,” Day said. “She gets to move on with her life and that is why he got the sentence he got.”

Barrett is expcted to serve 85 percent of the sentence.