Joliet man gets 14-year prison sentence for violent crimes against women

A Joliet man was sentenced to 14 years in prison for sexually assaulting and attacking women over a three-year period, prosecutors said.

On Monday, Michael Severado, 30, was sentenced to prison by Will County Judge Art Smigielski after he agreed to plead guilty to four separate felony charges over incidents that occurred between 2020 and 2022.

Severado’s prison sentence includes 11 years for the 2021 aggravated criminal sexual assault of a senior citizen outside Joliet’s Union Station, according to the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office.

His prison sentence also includes three years for attempted criminal sexual assault of a woman whom he knocked off a bicycle; aggravated battery of a woman he spat on and threatened at a gas station; and domestic battery of his girlfriend, the state’s attorney’s office said.

In a statement, State’s Attorney James Glasgow called Severado a “serial predator” who will not have access to “any innocent female victims” during his time in prison.

“This morally deviant individual will no longer be able to prey on innocent women who are simply trying to go about their daily lives,” Glasgow said. “Severado’s entire existence will now be staring at the cold, blank walls of a prison cell.”

Severado also will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, according to the state’s attorney’s office.

As part of Severado’s plea deals, prosecutors agreed to drop a 2022 case against him in which he was charged with attempting to escape from police.

In that case, deputies apprehended Severado in Matteson, Will County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Kathy Hoffmeyer said. While inside a squad vehicle, Severado had managed to free one of his hands from the handcuffs and tried to open the vehicle’s door, she said.