A longtime Twin Cities special education teacher has been convicted of sexually assaulting someone he met on a dating website.

Michael J. Lovestrand, 51, of Bloomington, was found guilty Friday in Hennepin County District Court of first- and third-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the alleged assault in his apartment in April 2018.

Lovestrand remains jailed without bail ahead of sentencing Jan. 10.

Lovestrand was hired by the Mounds View School District in 2004 and worked with middle school and high school students with emotional and behavioral disorders. He took a series of leaves of absences in June 2012, never returned and resigned from the district in 2016.

Lovestrand then joined the St. Paul School District in the same capacity at the Barack and Michelle Obama Elementary School until he left in June 2017.

A woman came forward to police in November 2019 and said the assault happened in April 2018, a couple of weeks after she and Lovestrand met on a dating website, according to the criminal complaint. She went to his apartment, shared dinner and then went to his bedroom, where he forced her into sex.