Metro-east crime roundup: Charges, sentences and stings. Here's what to know

A wave of criminal cases moved through southern Illinois courts in recent days, ranging from child abuse charges to a federal conviction involving 3D-printed guns. Here’s a snapshot of the cases shaping the metro-east crime docket.

Here are key takeaways:

• Two women face charges that they beat four children ages 3 to 6 with a belt and deprived two of food at a Caseyville hotel, prosecutors allege in St. Clair County.
• An O’Fallon man is charged with attempted first-degree murder and aggravated arson after allegedly pouring fuel on his home’s first floor and lighting it with his wife and 15-year-old son inside, according to charging documents.
• Prosecutors say 18-year-old Rashad Bonner killed his friend Dewayne Wright on June 6 to avoid taking the fall for an unsolved August 2025 Belleville killing, a motive revealed during a pretrial detention hearing.
• A former Scott Air Force Base senior airman was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison after investigators found roughly 4,000 identified sexually explicit images of children on his devices, following his guilty plea earlier this year.
• A Sparta man told a judge he thought his 7-year-old Rottweiler was already dead when he dragged it with his vehicle from a Washington Park motel, but a judge ordered him held pending trial.
• A 43-year-old Madison man, Anthony M. Silas, was found fatally shot on a vacant lot in East St. Louis on Tuesday morning, with Illinois State Police now investigating.
• Belleville police deployed drones 22 times between April 2024 and March 2025, mostly for exigent circumstances and missing person searches under Illinois’ 10 narrow legal exceptions, a survey of metro-east departments found.
• A two-day Illinois State Police violent crime sting in St. Clair and Madison counties resulted in 24 arrests, 40 charges and the seizure of 8 guns plus nearly 500 grams of drugs, authorities announced.
• The family of slain O’Fallon wrestling coach Allison Hartmire is furious over a plea deal that could result in probation for David Shovlin, who admitted keeping her in his bedroom without medical care for more than 20 hours, despite her fatal brain injury.
• An Alton man received 10 years in prison for firing toward a school bus dropping off students in February 2025, though no one was hit, after pleading guilty to a Class X felony.
• A federal jury convicted a Harrisburg man on five gun-related charges tied to a home operation that included 3D printers, a Ghost Gunner milling machine and unregistered short-barreled rifles, following a two-day trial in Benton.

The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The source reporting referenced above was written and edited entirely by journalists.