WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 — A former White House policy adviser, who was arrested in March and charged with multiple counts of shoplifting, pleaded guilty Friday to a single count, in a plea agreement under which he will pay a fine and make partial restitution but will avoid having a criminal record if he completes probation successfully.

The former official, Claude A. Allen, was initially charged with stealing more than $5,000 of merchandise from Target and other retailers in a fraudulent-return scheme. At the time, Mr. Allen denied the charges through his lawyer and said there had been a mix-up concerning his credit card. The accusations included at least 25 efforts to collect refunds on goods he never bought.

By pleading guilty in Montgomery County Circuit Court in suburban Maryland, Mr. Allen, 45, avoided the maximum sentence of 18 years in prison. Instead, Judge Eric Johnson ordered that he serve two years of supervised probation, perform 40 hours of community service, pay a $500 fine and make restitution of $850 to the Target Corporation. With no conviction on his record, he would be permitted to resume practicing law.

In his guilty plea, Mr. Allen admitted to stealing a Kodak printer valued at about $235.

In a short statement he made before the judge, Mr. Allen offered no explanation for stealing the printer, but he expressed “deep remorse” for his unlawful actions and broke down emotionally and wept.