Carleous Clay (Photo courtesy of Michigan Dept. of Corrections)

A violent career criminal faces up to life in prison after he was found guilty in federal court July 10 of the kidnapping, rape and vicious attempted murder of a south suburban Lansing woman.

Carleous Clay, 35, formerly of Holland, Mich., entered into a plea agreement with federal prosecutors in which he admitted to kidnapping the woman from her home in September 2015, sexually assaulting her, then strangling her and using lighter fluid to set her on fire.

The woman survived, but “suffered “permanent and life-threatening bodily injuries.”

Clay has acknowledged to prosecutors that he attempted to kill his victim “to prevent her from reporting the kidnapping and other crimes.”

Clay, who was living in a house provided by a member of a local church congregation, has multiple felony conviction dating back to 2001, and was on parole from another conviction for armed robbery in Michigan. He was charged federally due to his having crossed the state line between Illinois and Indiana several times during his criminal activity.

Clay will be sentenced by Federal District Judge Virginia Kendall on Oct. 9. In his plea agreement he pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping, one count of attempted murder, and one count of using fire to commit a felony. That last count carries a minimum 10-year sentence that must be served consecutive to any other sentence imposed by the judge.

According to the plea agreement, Clay was burglarizing the woman’s house when she returned home from grocery shopping. He threatened her with a hammer and demanded money, then drove her car to an ATM in Munster, Ind., where he used her PIN to withdraw $140 from her bank account.

He then drove to the parking lot of a vacant commercial business in Burns Harbor, Ind., raped the woman in the backseat of her car, then strangled her and set her on fire.

Clay also admitted in his plea agreement that in April 2017, while being held in the Chicago Metropolitan Correctional Center, he attacked a prison case manager with a homemade knife while in her office and threatened to kill her.

Clay reportedly handed the case manager a note that read, “Listen here you little bitch. I have a knife!!! If you wanna go home tonight you will do what I say. If you try to push that button I promise you that before anybody can help you I will kill you. Put your hands on the desk and don’t move. If you scream, I will kill you. I’m getting life in prison anyway so I don’t have anything to lose.”

Responding prison staff pepper-sprayed Clay and subdued him. His victim was unharmed.