Metro-east crime recap: Fatal shooting, murder-for-hire, fraud. Here’s what to know

A teen was killed in a Centralia shooting, a murder-for-hire gunman received a life sentence and a contractor avoided prison in a bank fraud case — all in a busy week of metro-east crime news. Here’s a roundup of the major public safety stories from the region.

Here are key takeaways:

• Fatal shooting in Centralia: A 19-year-old male died at an area hospital after a shooting Sunday in the 900 block of Kell Street. Three other victims were treated and released. Illinois State Police said it was “a targeted incident with no reason to believe the public is at risk.” No arrests have been announced.

• Swansea sex offender arrested: Billie D. Tadlock, 70, a registered sex offender, was charged with multiple felonies after police investigated reports of someone distributing pornographic material to juveniles near Kinsella Avenue and Caseyville Avenue on April 10. He was arrested Tuesday and held in the St. Clair County Jail.

• Life sentence in murder-for-hire case: Gary D. Johnson, 46, of Cahokia Heights, received a mandatory life sentence Thursday for fatally shooting Portia Rowland, 32, outside her Collinsville home on Jan. 21, 2025. Prosecutors allege Sammy J. Shafer Jr. hired Johnson for $10,000 after Shafer’s estranged wife left him for Rowland. Cases against Shafer and co-defendant Marty D. Shaw remain pending.

• No prison for fraud contractor: Columbia contractor Gregg Crawford, 66, was sentenced to three years of supervised release, 200 hours of community service and a $9,500 fine for a bank fraud scheme involving falsified mortgage loans on overvalued properties from 2011 to 2020. A federal judge rejected prosecutors’ request for at least a year in prison.

• Teen charged with arson in barn fires: The Monroe County State’s Attorney’s office charged Christopher A. Robert, 19, with two counts of arson, two counts of attempted arson, one count of criminal damage to property over $100,000 and one count of criminal damage to property between $10,000 and $100,000, officials said, in connection with a series of barn fires on a rural property. Robert resided at the residence.

• Venice man charged in alleged role in carjacking: Harry Moore, 21, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri to one count of carjacking and one count of possessing and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime. Prosecutors said he drove a Cadillac stolen in Belleville to St. Louis, where he and two others carjacked a Subaru Outback and stole the driver’s wallet and iPhone at gunpoint. They used a stolen debit card to withdraw $200 from an ATM, charges said.