ST. PAUL — A 64-year-old pedophile who has been in the Minnesota Sex Offender program for 19 years will become the first patient it discharges.

A three-judge panel in Ramsey County decided to grant a provisional discharge to Clarence Opheim on Friday, after there was no objection from prosecutors or the Department of Human Services.

No one has been discharged from the program since it began in 1994, which shows the state’s concern about releasing offenders who could be potentially dangerous.

Opheim, who was convicted in Hennepin County of criminal sexual assault of a teenage boy in the late 1980s, had been in the program since 1994.

Human Services Commissioner Lucinda Jesson wrote to the court three weeks ago, saying she opposed Opheim’s discharge. But according to a letter dated Friday, she changed her mind after reviewing a file addressing Opheim’s progress in chemical dependency counseling.