Faced with a DNA match, a 43-year-old man pleaded guilty Mondayin Orleans Parishto a rape he committed 18 years ago. Reginald Berry pleaded guilty to forcible rape and second-degree kidnapping, and Criminal District Judge Laurie White sentenced him to 22 years in prison under the deal.

Authorities pinned Berry to the crime through a federal DNA database. He had been living and working in Arkansas before his arrest on April 28, 2011, said his attorney, Aris Cox VI.

Authorities also had Berry pegged to another sexual assault, Cox said. A state grand jury indicted him in June, 2011.

"They had evidence. There was another allegation they were going to bring in should he have survived this trial," Cox said. "I'm sure they would have charged him with that."

Under the plea deal, that case goes away, Cox said.

According to Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office, the woman said Berry forced her into his residence in the 6700 block of Tara Lane in eastern New Orleans and raped her.

She called police and identified the perpetrator through a description of his apartment, but the investigation went nowhere, Cannizzaro's office said.

The woman submitted to a rape exam kit, and in 2007 a database hit identified Berry as a match. Again, the case lagged, Cannizzaro's office said, until New Orleans police laterstarted clearing up a backlog of unconfirmed DNA hits.

The victim was not eager to participate in a prosecution, according to a news release from Cannizzaro's office.

"It is always difficult to prosecute a case that is nearly two decades old and it is even harder when the victim feels as though she was not treated with respect during the initial rape investigation," Cannizzaro said in a news release.

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DNA match leads Arkansas man to plead guilty to 1993 New Orleans rape