A 25-year-old East Chicago, Indiana man has been sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to a series of violent robberies that left several downtown Chicago victims unconscious, including one whose jaw was shattered so badly it required surgery to install metal plates.
Michael Seawood received concurrent four-year sentences on each count after pleading guilty to three counts of robbery, two counts of aggravated battery in a public place, and one count of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, according to CWB Chicago. Judge Ursula Walowski imposed the sentences to run concurrently, the outlet reported, and under state law Seawood's prison time will be cut in half, putting his scheduled parole date at October 6, 2027.
A Brutal Summer Along the Mag Mile and Loop
The violence stretched across several weeks during the summer of 2025. Prosecutors said Seawood and at least one accomplice attacked a 52-year-old Loop resident around 2:30 a.m. on July 6, 2025, in the 400 block of North Lower Michigan Avenue, according to a January report from the same outlet. The resident suffered a broken jaw that required surgery to have plates installed, and the robbers made off with cash and phones from the incapacitated victims.
A 28-year-old visitor from Las Vegas who tried to intervene in that attack was allegedly punched and knocked to the ground as well, the report noted. The violence didn't stop there — on August 1, 2025, Seawood and multiple accomplices allegedly struck again in the 100 block of East Illinois Street in Streeterville, robbing a 29-year-old nearby resident of his phone, wallet, and other belongings.
Two Brothers Attacked the Next Day
The following day, August 2, 2025, Seawood and two accomplices allegedly attacked and robbed two brothers, ages 19 and 22, near the corner of Michigan Avenue and Lake Street in the Loop. Prosecutors said Seawood punched the 19-year-old brother in the face, briefly rendering him unconscious, while the group stole the brothers' wallet, phone, cash, and cards. In total, four of the victims across the string of robberies were knocked unconscious, per the same account.
Seawood was eventually identified after three Chicago police officers recognized him as one of the robbers, prosecutors said. The January CWB Chicago report had described Seawood as 24 years old at the time of his arrest, while the outlet's more recent sentencing coverage lists him as 25.
Part of a Broader — and Shrinking — Robbery Problem
The Seawood case unfolded even as robberies citywide have been on a sharp downward trajectory. Robberies peaked at 1,213 incidents in August 2023 before beginning a steep decline in July 2024, with every subsequent month showing a double-digit year-over-year drop, according to a WBEZ Chicago analysis of city data. The first three months of 2025 saw the fewest robberies of any quarter in decades, and more than three-quarters of Chicago's community areas recorded fewer robberies in the 12 months ending March 31, 2025, than in the prior 12-month stretch — though WBEZ's analysis found the Loop itself bucked that trend, logging 60 more robberies, a 21.6% increase, over that same period.
Citywide numbers have kept falling since. Chicago's reported robbery rate was 28% lower in the first half of 2026 than during the same period in 2025, and 43% lower than in the first half of 2019, according to the Council on Criminal Justice. The organization put the city's robbery rate at 77.6 per 100,000 residents in the first half of 2026, 55% below its 2018 level.
Other Violent Episodes Downtown
Seawood's case is not the only recent example of violent robbery or assault patterns downtown. Chicago police said a group of armed thieves carried out at least five robberies within 30 minutes across Streeterville, University Village, the South Loop and the Loop, with three male suspects between 15 and 20 years old getting out of a vehicle, displaying guns and robbing victims in each incident, according to ABC7 Chicago.
In a separate case, William Livingston pleaded guilty to aggravated battery in four new cases involving women punched in the Loop, the same station reported. One of those victims, Kathleen Miles, was punched in the face while walking downtown in August 2025 and was knocked unconscious near Block 37; the attack left her with several broken facial bones and a concussion, according to the outlet's report.
CWB Chicago, which first reported on Seawood's case, was founded in 2013 by five Wrigleyville and Boystown residents.
