Gary Powell was sentenced Monday to an "indeterminate sentence" of up to 40 years in prison for a July, 2016 attack on a Colorado Springs woman.

In February, Powell pleaded guilty to breaking into the woman's home through a window while she slept, and then raping and choking her while she drifted in and out of consciousness.

Powell will serve eight years for a burglary charge related to breaking into the woman's home. That will be served concurrently with the potential 40-year-sentence, followed by a minimum 20-years of parole, with the potential for life on parole.

In court at the sentencing the judge told Powell that he "earned every day" of the potential 40-year sentence.

The victim was in the courtroom, but chose not to address the court, instead she had a friend read a letter she wrote. The woman's friend of 20 years read the letter through tears. The letter said that the victim would never be the same. It said that she still lives in the home where the attack happened and she is forced to relive he attack all the time.

In the letter she said "the attack may have only been 15 minutes, but [she] lives with the effects every day."

Powell was given an opportunity to speak in court, but chose to say nothing.

Powell's attorney said in court that she intends to contest the findings of an evaluation that say Powell is a Sexually Violent Predator, a special classification of sex offender that Powell would have to register as once he is released from prison.

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PREVIOUS STORY:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (The Gazette/KKTV) UPDATE (2/27):

On Monday, a rapist pleaded guilty to the charges he was facing in court.

Gary Vernon Powell was already a convicted sex offender when he crawled through a woman's window and raped her while she was sleeping. The attack happened south of downtown Colorado Springs in July of 2016.

According to 11 News partner The Gazette Powell pleaded guilty to a similar crime nearly two decades ago, Powell faces an indeterminate sentence of 40 years to life in prison as a result of his plea bargain.

His sentencing is set for June 12.

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ORIGINAL STORY (8/22/16):

A registered sex offender accused of raping a woman after crawling through a window into her Colorado Springs home has also been linked to a burglary two months earlier in which he groped a woman, prosecutors say.

Gary Vernon Powell, 45, of Colorado Springs will face trial in both attacks, 4th Judicial District Judge David S. Prince ruled at the conclusion of a preliminary hearing Monday at which prosecutors laid out their evidence against Powell.

Colorado Springs police previously announced that Powell was linked to only one recent assault, a July 10 attack in the 300 block of Cheyenne Boulevard in which a burglar choked a woman in her home and raped her as she faded in and out of consciousness.

Police did not disclose that after Powell's arrest in that crime, a woman who lived two blocks from the victim saw his mugshot and told police she recognized him as the man who reached through an open window on May 3 and groped her as she slept.

The assailant fled after the woman awoke and screamed, authorities say.

She promptly reported the crime. A Colorado Springs patrol officer responded and found fingerprints on the woman's window, but was not able to obtain a copy detailed enough for analysis, detective Roger Muller told the court.