An Alabama man charged in a string of violent crimes stretching from central Alabama to Georgia has been sentenced in the kidnapping and sexual assaults of two teen girls in Prattville.

Michael Jerome Butler, 37, pleaded guilty April 8 to two counts of first-degree kidnapping, two counts of first-degree rape, two counts of first-degree sodomy, robbery, and sexual torture.

Butler appeared Thursday morning before Autauga County Circuit Judge Joy Pace Booth, who sentenced the Greenville man to eight consecutive life sentences.

Butler is set to go to trial in November for the unrelated murder of a St. Clair County woman.

The violent 2022 crime spree happened while Butler was on mandatory release from the Alabama Department of Corrections.

CJ Robinson, district attorney for Alabama’s 19th Judicial Circuit, described Butler as a “monster” and said he shouldn’t have been on the streets.

“The bottom line is simple. A monster like Michael Butler was in prison on his fourth felony by a court out of south Alabama, but was he released early without an ankle monitor (which was required) then failed to show up for supervision,’’ Robinson said. “Butler drove to our circuit and began his reign of terror.”

“There is no excuse, no justification, and no dollar amount that can soften the nauseating reality that these unspeakable acts of violence could have been avoided,” the district attorney said.

The investigation began on Nov. 3, 2022, when two 17-year-old girls were carjacked and abducted as they left a Prattville Walgreens. The teen victims did not know Butler.

Butler took them to a remote location and sexually assaulted then at gunpoint.

The abduction happened about 8:30 p.m., that Thursday and it was just several hours later that investigators put Butler leaving the area in the victims’ car.

Investigators tracked Butler to Georgia – where he is accused in an armed home invasion, shooting, robbery and other crimes- and then back into Alabama.

Authorities at the time described as “everybody’s worst nightmare.”

“Unfortunately, he committed the murder in St. Clair County before we could get our hands on him,’’ Prattville police Chief Mark Thompson said at the time. “There’s no doubt he would have done more.”

Just days later, on Nov. 6, 2022, 54-year-old Victoria Malet’s body was found about 11 a.m. off Cook Springs Road in Pell City. The discovery was made in a rural, wooded area and Malet had been shot multiple times.

Butler was captured when Leeds police officers, having received a lookout bulletin, set up surveillance on Interstate 20. Officers spotted the suspect’s vehicle and confirmed Butler was in the vehicle.

Police tried to stop the vehicle, but Butler refused to stop.

Leeds police Chief Paul Irwin said officers pursued Butler until he ran off the road and down an embankment. Butler then ran away on foot but was captured by law enforcement officers from the Leeds and Moody police departments, and the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Office.

Butler was in possession of multiple guns.

Court records show Butler has a long list of arrests dating back to 2006, mostly for property crimes.

He pleaded guilty in 2017 to theft of property and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. It wasn’t immediately clear when he was released from prison.

Robinson has been a vocal opponent to prison reform and has used Butler’s criminal history to paint a picture of what can happen when inmates are released early without the supervision necessary to track them and maintain public safety.

“I am so proud of the work of the Prattville Police Department in spearheading the multi-agency efforts to apprehend this evil soul,’’ he said. “While Chief Thompson’s officers did an amazing job, the, true heroes are the two young women who lived through every parent’s worst nightmare.”

Robinson said he has spent time with both girls and their families.

“Neither girl ever lost her will to survive,’’ Robinson said. “They are not victims, they are survivors.”

“Sadly, when the State of Alabama went ‘all-in’ on an experiment called prison reform in 2016, we committed to raising a generation of young people who have watched their parents/guardians, older siblings, and their friends face minimal to zero consequences for criminal acts,’’ he said.

Robinson said nearly a decade of “failed leadership, lies from special interest groups, and reckless policies based on skewed statistics infested our communities with drug dealers, thieves, violent offenders and sexual predators who continue to leave a trail of victims in their path.”

“We were routinely misled to believe our prisons were full of nonviolent drug addicts while thousands were being released with every type of prior conviction you can imagine,’’ he said.

“Thankfully, the last two legislative sessions we have taken great strides to begin re-establishing accountability and slow down the revolving door of violent offenders being released back into society after serving only a fraction of their sentence.”