A 57-year-old O’Fallon, Illinois man has been convicted of firing at a deputy U.S. marshal who came to arrest him at a Metro East motel, capping a case that began with an underlying federal drug indictment in March 2023, before he allegedly cut off his ankle monitor and vanished for nearly a year. Earl Frank was found guilty of assault on a federal officer, felon in possession of a firearm, and discharge of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
The verdict, reported by First Alert 4, closes out a prosecution that stretched back years before Frank ever fired a shot. Prosecutors say Frank cut off his ankle monitor in St. Louis in July 2024 while on supervised release and was on the run for nearly a year before the U.S. Marshals Service Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force learned he was staying at the Royal Budget Inn in East St. Louis.
Gunfire Erupts as Marshals Knock
When deputy marshals arrived to serve the arrest warrant, they knocked on the motel room door and announced themselves. According to prosecutors, Frank opened fire in their direction rather than surrender. As reported by FOX 2 Now, the deputy marshal was not struck, and investigators said Frank missed when he fired as the door opened.
Frank was ultimately taken into custody after a 15-minute standoff, the same report notes. U.S. Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft described Frank as a dangerous criminal who had been on the run for nearly a year, saying that when deputy marshals finally caught up with him, he opened fire instead of surrendering.
No Plea Deal, Full Weight of the Law
Weinhoeft said the case went to trial with no plea deal on the table, and that Frank will face the full weight of federal law. Frank had previously been convicted of a felony, which underpinned the felon-in-possession charge. A sentencing date has not yet been set; Frank will be sentenced at a later date, according to Weinhoeft.
The gunfire at the motel was not Frank’s first brush with the federal courts. Court records reviewed via a CourtListener docket show Frank was indicted in March 2023 on four counts, with an arrest warrant issued the same day. He entered a not-guilty plea the following month and was released on a $5,000 unsecured appearance bond, with a jury trial initially set for June 27, 2023, at the East St. Louis courthouse.
Case Tied to Broader Cartel Allegations
The underlying drug case against Frank has since grown well beyond its original scope. FOX 2 Now reports that Frank is now named in a newer superseding federal indictment filed in 2025 alleging that drugs connected to the case trace back to the Sinaloa cartel, a development that expanded the original prosecution into far more serious territory.
Federal statutes spell out what Frank now faces. Under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c), as published by the U.S. House Office of the Law Revision Counsel, discharging a firearm during a crime of violence carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison. A separate provision, 18 U.S.C. § 111, addresses forcibly assaulting a federal officer, with penalties that in one cited excerpt included a fine of up to $5,000, up to three years in prison, or both.
The manhunt that brought marshals to Frank’s door is the kind of work the Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force says defines its mission. The task force reports it has apprehended more than 117,700 fugitives since its inception, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. With Frank now convicted on all three federal counts, his case awaits a sentencing hearing that has not yet been scheduled.
