A man who sexually assaulted two women in a downtown Minneapolis parking ramp is expected to receive a 15-year prison sentence, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Monday.

Peijan L. Hodges, 22, of Farmington, pleaded guilty last week to first-degree criminal sexual conduct and attempted first-degree criminal sexual conduct. As part of his plea agreement, a fourth-degree criminal ­sexual conduct charge from an incident two weeks before the ramp assaults was dropped.

"These are frightening incidents, occurring in ­public parking ramps during the daylight hours," Freeman said. "We are pleased that Mr. Hodges was apprehended relatively quickly and we were able to convince him to plead guilty. He will now be looking at a long stretch of time off the streets and in prison."

The attempted criminal sexual assault charge was from an incident just after 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 7. A woman was walking from her car to the elevators of Ramp C, 318 2nd Av. N. Hodges asked for a dollar and then grabbed the woman in a bear hug, forcing her to the ground between two cars. The woman fought with him and yelled for help. A man exiting the elevator yelled at Hodges, who fled.

Less than three hours later, a woman took the elevator in the same parking ramp, and Hodges got on at Level 6. The woman got off the elevator one level higher and was in the driver's seat of her car when Hodges grabbed the door to keep it from closing. He took the woman's keys and pushed her into the back seat and assaulted her.

Up until the Sept. 26 fourth-degree assault incident, during which he grabbed a woman's breast in the skyway, Hodges had no felony criminal record.

He will be sentenced March 2.

DAVID CHANEN