A high-risk sex offender who went missing for a month earlier this spring has pleaded guilty to violating his registration requirements as a predatory offender.

Brooks Daniel Fisher, 51, entered the plea Friday in Freeborn County District Court in what was classified as an Alford plea.

Under this type of plea, the defendant maintains his innocence but recognizes that the prosecution has enough evidence to convict, usually of stiffer penalties.

Assistant Freeborn County Attorney David Walker said in exchange for Fisher’s guilty plea, prosecutors will recommend he serve the lower amount of the presumptive prison sentence that is required for the offense — potentially reducing the sentence up to five months.

He faces a sentence between 12 and 31 months in prison.

Walker said the Minnesota Department of Corrections will conduct a pre-sentence investigation on Fisher prior to sentencing Aug. 6.

Fisher has been in the Freeborn County jail since he was arrested April 28 after he reportedly left the small Freeborn County community of London at the end of March without notifying his correction agent or law enforcement.

Fisher, a Level 3 offender, is required to notify authorities any time he moves, gets a new job or changes his physical appearance.

According to Freeborn County District Court documents, Fisher traveled to a residence in Golden Valley on March 30, asking a couple to look after his two dogs.

Court files say he told them “he was in trouble and would be going to prison for a long time.” Where Fisher traveled after that is unknown.

Fisher had been living in London since he was released from prison in April 2011, after serving two-thirds of a 27-year sentence.

He was convicted in 1993 of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with an adult woman, including penetration, involving a dangerous weapon, in Stearns County. Fisher reportedly used force and brandished a gun to gain compliance during the commission of the act, which was also an armed robbery. The victim did not know Fisher prior to the incident.

He is classified as a Level 3 offender because he has the highest likelihood of reoffending.