A registered sex offender has been sentenced for the sexual assault and robbery of a college student who was walking before dawn near her Minneapolis campus last fall.

Louis R. Oliver, 48, of Hastings, pleaded guilty May 3 in Hennepin County District Court to first-degree criminal sexual conduct in the Nov. 19 assault near the Minneapolis campus of St. Catherine University.

Oliver was sentenced Thursday to nearly 22 years in prison.

Oliver's arrest came after security officers at Regions Hospital in St. Paul received a complaint Nov. 27 that a suspicious man was approaching women in the parking ramp and asking them for jumper cables for his car, according to the criminal complaint.

A Ramsey County deputy recognized Oliver as the man in a sketch released by Minneapolis police in connection with the sexual assault near West River Parkway and 27th Avenue S., the complaint said.

According to the complaint:

Oliver approached the woman, asked her for money and grabbed her arm. Saying he had a gun, Oliver led her to a trail in a wooded area of Riverside Park nearby. He robbed her of her cash, backpack and wallet, pulled off some of her clothes and digitally penetrated her. He also hit her in the face.

The woman fled as he told her they were going to an ATM for money.

Police Sgt. Stephen McCarty said Oliver is a Level II sex offender, below the level legally considered the most likely to reoffend. He has one sex-related conviction in Minneapolis from the 1990s and another in Black Hawk County, Iowa, McCarty said.

Oliver's Iowa criminal history also includes serving prison time for first-degree theft, first-degree burglary, sexual assault and being a habitual offender. His criminal history in Minnesota includes convictions for felony auto theft and misdemeanor domestic abuse.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482