Members of the U.S. Marshals-led Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force arrested Stanley Smith, 41, in Ravenna on the afternoon of Nov. 4, ending a search that began more than a year ago after a shooting in Springfield Township, according to a U.S. Marshals Service press release updated Nov. 4.
Smith was wanted by the Summit County Sheriff’s Office for felonious assault and having weapons under disability, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. Task force members arrested him at an address in the 100 block of Spruce Avenue in Ravenna after recently learning he was residing there, the Marshals Service said in its release.
The charges stem from an incident on July 8, 2025, in the 1400 block of Albrecht Avenue in Springfield Township. During that incident, Smith allegedly shot a victim in the leg and fled the scene, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. The Akron Beacon Journal reported Nov. 4 that a person was hospitalized after being shot in the leg in that incident. Smith has not been convicted, and the allegations remain pending.
Springfield Township police initially issued a warrant for Smith on July 8, 2025, and the case was later bound over to the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. The Beacon Journal reported that township police at the time advised nearby residents to keep their homes and vehicles locked, describing Smith as armed and dangerous.
The task force began searching in July 2025 and followed investigative leads and conducted several interviews over the past year, according to the Marshals Service. Smith was also featured as the Marshals’ Fugitive of the Week during the search.
U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott stated in the U.S. Marshals Service release: ‘This violent fugitive was on the run for over a year, but our task force officers never stop pursuing him. This arrest is a great example of the tenacity of our task force. We never stop pursuing those who commit violent crimes against the people of our communities.’
The Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force’s Akron Division includes the U.S. Marshals Service, Akron police, the Summit County and Portage County sheriff’s offices, Kent police, Cuyahoga Falls police, Tallmadge police, Twinsburg police, the Medina County Sheriff’s Office and the Wayne County Court of Common Pleas, according to the Marshals Service release.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What is confirmed, from the U.S. Marshals Service and confirmed independently by the Akron Beacon Journal on Nov. 4, is the arrest itself, the Ravenna location, the Summit County warrant and the July 2025 Springfield Township incident that prompted it. What has not been released is Smith’s first court date, where he is being held, or any additional detail about the victim beyond the hospitalization reported by the Beacon Journal — and NewsForce247 is not naming a victim or a court schedule that officials have not provided.
For residents of Springfield Township, the arrest closes a case that began with a neighborhood warning in the summer of 2025. For Ravenna residents, it is a reminder that fugitive task forces routinely make arrests quietly on residential streets when a tip places a wanted person in a home.
The Marshals Service asks anyone with information on other wanted fugitives to contact the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force at 1-866-4WANTED (1-866-492-6833); tipsters may remain anonymous and reward money is available, according to the release.
What happens next is the court process in Summit County on the felonious assault and weapons charges named in the warrant. NewsForce247 will update this story when officials release a court date or booking information.
Cases like this one are the task force’s core work in Northeast Ohio: a local warrant, a suspect who leaves the community where the alleged crime happened, and a trail that runs through interviews and tips until an address surfaces in another county — in this case about 25 miles away, from Springfield Township in Summit County to Ravenna in Portage County. Both counties are inside the task force’s Akron Division footprint, which is why the same team could follow the case across the county line without handing it off.
The arrest also illustrates why officials keep a public tip line at the center of these searches. The Marshals Service featured Smith as a Fugitive of the Week, a program built on the idea that someone who knows a fugitive’s routine — a landlord, a coworker, a neighbor — will eventually make the call. The release does not say which lead produced the Spruce Avenue address, and NewsForce247 is not speculating about it.
Photo: JonRidinger, CC BY