JEFFERSON COUNTY — A 65-year-old Mt. Vernon man was sentenced Thursday in Jefferson County Court to 25 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections after a jury found him guilty last year of charges stemming from a violent home invasion in Mt. Vernon.

A Jefferson County jury found Melvin Taylor guilty in October of Class X felony home invasion and armed robbery, and two Class 2 felony counts of armed violence for entering a Mt. Vernon home in 2020 and beating two female occupants with a baseball bat.

Both women were taken to the hospital for treatment, with one reportedly being left blind in one eye. Mt. Vernon police reported at the time that property was taken from one of the victims.

On Thursday, Taylor was sentenced to 15 years on the home invasion charge and due to the severity of the violence involved in the charge must serve that term consecutively to the other three.

He was given a 10 year sentence on the armed robbery charge to run concurrent with seven year terms on each of the armed violence charges.