ALBANY — A career criminal was sentenced Thursday to 40 years to life in prison for the sex attack and robbery of a college student he followed home from a Lark Street pizzeria.

Troy Parker, 46, of Schenectady was ruled to be a "persistent violent felon" by Judge Stephen Herrick, which made the potential life sentence mandatory. Parker has two prior convictions for first-degree robbery.

On Sept. 18, an Albany County jury convicted Parker of attacking the 20-year-old woman at about 3:30 a.m. on March 6, 2011, in the vestibule of her apartment in Center Square. Prosecutors said he groped nd choked the woman — and tried to force oral sex.

Jurors convicted Parker of first-degree sexual abuse, second-degree robbery and strangulation. He was acquitted of attempted sodomy.

In closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Shannon Sarfoh told the jury the victim said she "believed that he was going to kill her."

Parker had followed the woman home, reached under her dress and touched her genitals. He also stole her cellphone. Sarfoh said Parker's DNA was found on the woman's dress and underwear.

Sarfoh told the jury Parker lived with his wife and two children yet spent the night at a motel. She said he threw his T-shirt and jeans in the garbage. And she said Parker wasn't surprised that police interviewed him about the incident. She said Parker denied touching the woman even before detectives brought up the subject.

Sarfoh said police recorded Parker telling his wife: "Prepare yourself. I'm gonna be gone for a while ... I think I (messed) up. I said more than I should have."

Parker's attorney, Timothy Berry, questioned why no one heard the victim screaming given the amount of foot traffic at the nearby intersection of Lark Street and Hudson Avenue.

rgavin@timesunion.com • 518-434-2403 • @RobertGavinTU