Man pleads guilty to sexually assaulting jogger in 2007 attack on Minneapolis’ Boom Island

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A man pleaded guilty Tuesday to the sexual assault of a jogger in Minneapolis 16 years ago.  

Robert Allen Delong, 63, pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal sexual conduct while armed with a dangerous weapon for sexually assaulting a jogger at gunpoint in 2007 on Boom Island.   

According to court filings, on the evening of March 23, 2007, an armed Delong approached a woman jogging on a path at Boom Island, forcing her down a set of stairs to a retaining wall at gunpoint, saying he would not shoot her if she went with him.  

Delong held the woman against the retaining wall and sexually assaulted her, telling her to "stop crying, I’m gonna rape you, you know what I want," court records read.  

After the assault, he told her to close her eyes and count to 1,000. The woman then went to a nearby relative’s house where she was able to preserve some forensic evidence, which the BCA matched to Delong in the national DNA index system.   

However, just days after the attack, he was arrested for robbing a bank in Lakeville and spent years in federal prison for the crime. Hennepin County prosecutors were forced to drop the sexual assault charges against him after the woman he attacked was involved in a car crash. She was badly injured to the point where she could not participate in the legal proceedings.   

However, charges were refiled in 2016 based on new rules of evidence in sexual assault cases that allow for the admission of certain statements and other facts even without a victim having to testify. After a lengthy legal process, Delong pleaded guilty in court on May 23, 2023, to one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct while armed with a dangerous weapon. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 10.