owen craruso. police say caruso was caught in the nick of time. >> incidents in several cities led to caruso's arrest back in newark. on march 26th, a woman says she was walking to her home in walnut creek when a man assaulted her what stun gun. she fought him ofheg want our public to do. she was aware of her surroundings, walking to her car. when she saw him, she immediately got suspicious of him. and when the attack happened, she immediately started fighting back and screaming for help from others to come to her. and then she was able to quickly run away. she dropped the items that she was carrying, which probably assisted in him tripping. >> and later that day, a maintenance worker alerted fremont police to some discarded suspicious items and those items included plans to kidnap and sexually assault five other women. investigators linked the assault and the items and identified caruso as the suspect.

>> they say he had stalked some of the women, even taking photos outside their houses. he also had prepared an apparent kidnapping kit of some times human-sized duffel bag. caruso is in jail and being held on more than $1 million bail tonight. a teenager has identified himself to police in kentucky today as a boy named timmothy pitzen who went missing in illinois seven years ago. the photo on the left is timmothy pitzen as a young child. the photo on the right is an aged progressed photo to age 13. police are working to confirm the teenager's identity and have not publicly named him. according to the "chicago tribune," a police report filed today says the teenager told them he'd been staying at a hotel with two kidnappers. to other news now, another whale has turned up dead in the bay area. this time, it was in san pablo bay. >> yeah, this is the third time since march a gray whale has watch aid shore in the bay area. the whales are particularly active this time of year as they migrant north to alaska.

>> scientists have sounded the alarm, asking boaters to be on the lookout for them. also of concern is whether there's a food shortage. >> the two previous carcasses were found by angel island and near the bay area. today, as we mentioned, was discovered in san pablo bay near rodeo. all right. so let's check in with abc 7 news anchor eric thomas with more on the story. eric? >> reporter: you mentioned the migration. apparently, they're migrating in ever-larger numbers from mexico to alaska. let's show you the one we're talking about right now. it is out there with a couple of kayakers. that body has been tied off to the shore by the marine mammal center, who plan to do a further investigation on what may have killed it tomorrow. >> bill bishop may have been the first to see the whale floating in some pilings near the boat dock when he came out at 7:30 this morning. >> i said, that lksike boat or something. i got closer, it's a whale! >> reporter: it didn't take long for word to spread and the curious to come down. >> this is something i'm

probably not going to see again in my life, pretty much. i had to come check it out, you know. >> reporter: the 1-year-old male gray whale had become lodged at the bottom of a boat ramp. some folks wanted to get close. >> you're going to end up falling in and going swimming with it. >> this gentlemen got dangerously close. hep did not fall in. louis porter of rodeo brought his daughter, tiffany, down to see. >> she's in kindergarten and we were just doing -- taking pictures so we can do a little thing at school on it. >> reporter: but shortly after we took these pictures, a rising tide did its little thing and washed the remains about 75 yards downstream. soon after, experts from the marin based marine mammal center arrived. >> it's hard to tell exactly what happened to it right now, because we can't get access to it. it's in a very dangerous location for us to go to. >> reporter: it's the third gray whale to wash ashore in the bay in the past month. the mammal center theorizes that more whales are migranting north from mexico to alaska. the greater numbers means a

tougher search for food and the young ones are the first to suffer. >> the animals that are not going to survive in those situations are the young ones who are less experienced, less ability to find food, and food can be patchy subscriptio y dis. the older ones would know where to go. the younger ones don't. >> reporter: the plan right now is to leave the whale in place where it is overnight and tomorrow the marine mammal center hopes to be able to get a boat and tow it out to angel island where a necropsy will be performed. that's where necropsies were performed on the other whales that washed ashore. malnutrition is one theory they're working on right now. there are others. there's a lot of boat traffic in the bay. could have been hit by a boat. and as we know, there's a lot of plastic out there that it might have ingested. those are all theories right now. live in rodeo, eric thomas, abc 7 news. >> eric, thank you. turning now to the weather. and things are getting interesting, to say the least. >> a quick picture outside and it's cloudy, but friday there is more rain in the forecast. we're hearing the phrase, atmospheric river again. >> let's check in with

meteorologist sandhya patel to get the latest on that. >> we're going to continue winter into spring. let me show you live doppler 7 right now. take a look at these storm systems. they're pretty well defined. tomorrow, we have this system that's going to bring us scattered showers, but this is definitely an impressive system. this does have the atmospheric river connection. it's a level one on our storm impact scale tomorrow through friday, light to moderate rain. we're looking at anywhere from a quarter to an inch higher in the hills, those wind gusts, 30 to 40 miles an hour. tonight, a little drizzle not out of the question. tomorrow morning at 5:00 a.m., you start to see those light showers coming in, spreading at 10:00 a.m. and as you take a look at our close-up of our live doppler 7, it's not going to look like this as we head towards friday. i'll be back with the hour-by-hour timeline coming right up. >> live doppler 7 is one of the most popular stories right now on our website and the abc 7 o o news app. if you want to track the rain,

click the blue live bar at the top of the app. pand you can check the weather conditions where you live and enable push alerts to get the latest news as it happens. lori, lori, pay for my tuition, lori! >> oh, actress lori loughlin got quite a welcome when she headed to court in the college admissions scandal today. several more bay area parents charged in the scheme also went before a judge for the first time. one of them, however, might be cutting a deal. the i-team's melanie woodrow has been following this story since it broke last month and she joins us live from the newsroom with what happened today in court. melanie? >> reporter: kristen, peter sartorio of menlo park is the first bay area parent to take a deal. his attorney filing this motion today, saying hep intends to plead guilty. today, the first suggestion of a bay area parent taking a plea deal in the college admissions scandal rocking the nation. peter sartorio of menlo park intending to plead guilty, according to this motion. his attorney writing, sartorio, quote, intends to plead guilty

to an information that the government has advised it will file prior to april 30th. sartorio allegedly paid $15,000 in cash for the college entrance exam cheating scheme for his daughter. appearing in court today, manuel and elizabeth enriquez of atherton. according to the criminal complaint, elizabeth, her daughter, and a procter diplomated after one exam that they had cheated and gotten away with it. they did not answer questions before being whisked away. also, bruce isaacson of hillsborough, whose daughter was a purported ucla soccer recruit, even though the soccer claim she claims she was team captain of said she never played for them. for the first time today, we're d ggory colburn, a myburn radiologyist from palo alto. the doctor's attorney says they are incident. they're facing an indictment for money laundering in addition to the mail fraud charges after refusing to take a deal, according to their attorney. dr. colburn currently taking a leave of absence from his

medical practice. actress lori loughlin smiling as she walked into court. >> lori, lori, lori, pay for my tuition! lori! >> reporter: hold and signs that said the same thing. "lori, please pay for my tuition, after you get out of prison, of course." loughlin wasn't smiling when she left court. and neither was actress felicity huffman. >> get out of the way. get out of the way. >> and the motion that sartorio's attorney put in also requests that his appearance that was scheduled for today be continued until april 30th. noting that the government has advised defense counsel that it takes no possession on the motion. i reached out to sartorio's attorneys and i have not heard back. in the newsroom for the i-team, melanie woodrow, abc 7 news. >> all right. melanie, thank you. san francisco may have set a new record with the number of arrests they made today in the tenderloin. officers arrested at least 62 people in a wide-ranging operation targeting fugitives that were wanted by police.

vic lee was embedded with one of the arresting units and has a story you'll only see on abc 7 news. >> reporter: it's early morning in the "t," the tenderloin. the neighborhood is waking up. >> our goal is to help clean up the tenderloin by arresting warrant offenders. >> reporter: insider tenderloin station, some 40 officers, parole agents and sheriff's deputies are being briefed about today's operation. a zero tolerance fugitive roundup. we'll be embedded with officers joe nahval and kathleen kavanaugh. she explains what zero tolerance means. >> if you have a warrant that's $550,0 to 1,000 to no bail, everybody is going to jail. >> reporter: and that means everybody with a warrant, from drinking in public to drugs to serious felonies. the tenderloin is a melting pot of offenders from out of town, even out of state.

naval and kavanaugh cruise the "t" looking for suspects they've encountered on the streets. they get arrested, they come back, sometimes the next day. half a dozen street people are camped out on this block. two women interviewed. >> she was smoking meth out of a meth pipe and the other female was shooting up heroin. >> reporter: tracy, a nearby resident, is happy police are here. >> i work full-time and i pay rent here and i've got to deal with this all day, every day. >> reporter: at this stop, two people with warrants are taken into custody. one of the seven wagons operating today will take them to the county jail. in just about two hours, the two officer s have taken part in si arrests, but their work is not finished. >> there's one guy i'm looking for right now, i think he has about five felony warrants. >> reporter: the officers know many by name, even have a report. >> sometimes i have personal conversations with them and sometimes i have business conversations. >> reporter: this encounter was a business conversation with a

man they know as charlie. >> do you have anything in your pockets that you shouldn't have? >> reporter: they stopped charlie yesterday on the street. he had outstanding warrants for criminal threats and stay-away orders. the officers made a deal. go get help from city assistance programs and we won't take you in. charlie did not. he was arrested. >> sometimes maybe a warrant arrest like this will help out in getting him some of the services that he needs. >> reporter: the last fugitive operation by tenderloin police was in february. that resulted in 50 arrests. the goal today, to reach that same number. the arrests kept mounting as the day wore on. by the end of the seven-hour operation, 62 arrests. more than they had hoped for. vic lee, abc 7 news. abc 7 news is committed to building a better bay area. our traffic jams are among some of the worst in the nation. the explosion in the number of uber and lyft vehicles is making the situation worse. but the problem is not just a

lot of extra cars, it's also rideshare drivers who ignore the law. i found them all over the streets in san francisco. >> i'm just wondering if you know you're double parked? >> i really don't want to talk. >> didn't want to talk. so why don't california cities do something about this? tonight on abc 7 news at 6:00, how cities are searching for solutions to our rideshare reality, as we focus on building a better bay area. that's at 6:00. but stay here with us. should california's legal alcohol limit for drivers be lowered? so >> some people say yes. coming up, the inspiration behind their effort and how low they want the limit to go. doctors and nurses walked off the job today in the east bay. the list of demands they have in their labor dispute. >> facebook users exposed. we'll tell you about the latest case of non-secured user records, hundreds of millions found on

california drivers may soon face much tougher drunk driving laws. supporters say it would save lives. >> but tonight, we are already hearing from critics who say the proposed law would be much too tough. >> abc 7 news reporter wayne freedman is live in petaluma and explains why. wayne? >> reporter: it's called ab-1713. in california, it would lower the legal blood alcohol limit by almost half. that means that for the average person, two drinks an hour would put them illegal. for a small person, one drink in an hour. but it does have some opposition. how much is too much? >> you're on number? >> two. >> in california, those may be too much for most of us if these lawmakers and drunk driving victims get their way. they have proposed a bill in california's state assembly called liam's law. it would impose a stricter legal alcohol limit on drivers from 0.08 to 0.05, all prompted by

the drunk driving death of a southern california toddler in 2016. his mother, michelle elder. >> what feels so unjust is the fact that liam's death is completely -- was completely preventible. >> reporter: now the pushback. >> i think it's absolutely wrong. >> reporter: attorney ryan wilbur specializes in defending drunk drivers. he does not see the difference between california's established standard and the proposed one. >> the state of the law as it is now is there is a presumption that you are not impaired at a 0.05. >> but supporters say such a reduction would reduce deaths by 11% nationwide. >> this law is not based in emotion, it is based in statistics and facts. >> reporter: the law might also change the way bars and restaurants do business to take either side presents a no win for them. >> changing that limit will not solve the problem. we have to do a lot more in other ways to solve this issue. >> reporter: bartender andrew jane. >> once you get up to the 0.1, that's a problem. but 0.08, two drinks, if you

drink it to a 0.05, that's one drink and that kind of makes happy hour useless. >> reporter: worth mentioning, in california that tougher standard already applies to school bus drivers, to truck drivers, and any commercial drivers. it also applies in some 100 other countries. live in petaluma, wayne freedman, abc 7 news. >> wayne, thank you. medical staff at three east bay hospitals all part of the alameda health system protested today after nearly six months of failed contract negotiations. resident physicians, nurses, and interns at highland hospital in oakland organized a walkout this afternoon to bring attention to issues they say could affect patient safety. they're asking for increased wages, housing allowances, day-long cafeteria privileges, and guaranteed cell phone equipment. >> they have come back to us with numerous proposals that undermine our ability to safely and fairly do our jobs, serving our patients. >> we lack many of the basic

ancillary services, such as sufficient physical therapists, sufficient nursing staff. >> nurses at alameda hospital in san leandro hospital also staged an informational picket to air grievances. alameda health systems says it's confident the bargaining process will result in an agreement that provides competitive salaries and ensures its ability to meet the needs of those they serve, they say. well, a couple of important warnings for consumers tonight, including facebook users. >> yeah, but first, something bike riders need to know about staying safe. 7 on your side's michael finney is here with more on that. michael? >> a recall for a bicycle that could really cause a problem. quality bicycle products is recalling two models of its bicycle, the 2019 salsa war bird and via. both bicycles have an issue with their front forks that they have a potential to brake. this could leaded to rider getting hurt. these were sold in specialty bicycle stores nationwide. owners of these bikes can take

them back where they got them for a free repair. experian is offering free credit monitoring to some consumers as part of the lawsuit settlement. the credit reporting company was sued, some claiming that the consumer's credit reporting contained inaccuracies that negatively affected their credit scores. consumers who meet certain requirements are eligible for two years of free credit monitoring and also, possibly, some financial compensation. experian has set up a website for consumers who think they may be eligible. go to experian.com. 540 million facebook user records were found on an unsecured public server. researchers at the security firm upguard found that a mexico-based digital media company stored the data on an amazon storage server without a password. another company, now defunct california--based app maker at the pool stored a backup file on

a different server that exposed things like friends lists, photos, and location check-ins. the companithere are no indicat that any of the data that was exposed has actually been misused. that's the good news. >> okay. >> that's a relief. thanks, michael. we're talking about facebook, only on abc 7, tomorrow, an exclusive interview with facebook founder mark zuckerberg. it's his first tv interview since last year's cambridge analytica scandal. you'll hear what he tells george stephanopoulos tomorrow morning on "good morning america". it starts at 7:00 a.m. right here on abc 7. we had some showers this morning. let's see if we have anymore that lined up. >> i think we might. meteorologist sandhya patel is here with the forecast. >> we have to keep it going. we'll continue on with the wet pattern, but we'll ease you into it as we head into tomorrow. a live picture from our mt. tamalpais camera. yes, we have enough moisture that we're going to be dealing with this tomorrow morning during the commute. some foggy areas there.

a live doppler 7, we'll show you there's plenty of cloud cover, even a few sprinkles showing up across parts of the bay area. we had some showers this afternoon on the peninsula. santa cruz camera, well, there aren't too many people at the beach. clouds are stacked up. here's a look at your temperatures. upper 50s from san francisco to oakland. san jose, you're at 62. 61 in morgan hill. and a lovely view from our south beach camera. we're seeing some sun trying to peek through all the clouds. 56 in santa rosa and in petaluma right now. napa, concord, livermore, you're all in the low 60s. looking at the shark tank from our san jose camera and the clouds are all gathering ahead of our next system. so foggy areas during the overnight hours, showers fountaoff and on tomorrow. through friday, we have a light level 1, light to moderate rain. higher amounts in the hills. hour by hour we go, 5:00 a.m. tomorrow, prepare for some wet spots. you'll need those wipers at 9:00

a.m., especially if you're in mendocino county, 11:00 a.m. spotty light showers will continue and it's going to remain in that light category, even into the afternoon hours and into the evening commute. not everyone's going to see widespread rain tomorrow, just a shower here, a shower there. 8:00 p.m. tomorrow night, most of the focus is north of the bay area and then friday morning, 5:00 a.m., the light showers will eventually turn to widespread light-to-moderate rain at 11:30 in the morning. continuing through the afternoon, as that atmospheric river comes through. we're going to run the computer model. most areas, all the way through friday night, most areas will see anywhere from 2/10th tomorrow night. 30 inches of snow is expected for the highest peaks with 8 to 12 inches at the lower elevations. difficulties traveling if you are headed up to the mountains. first thing tomorrow morning, watch out for the fog and some slippery spots.

mid-40s to the mid-50s to start off your morning. and tomorrow afternoon, hang on to the umbrellas. we'll see a mix of sun, clouds, and a few showers. temperatures, 50s, 60s. a look at the giants' home opener forecast against the rays. unfortunately at oracle park on friday, we need the rain, but timing is everything. it is going to be wet and windy. accuweather seven-day forecast, it's a level 1, scattered showers tomorrow. wet and gusty on friday. a level 1 with lingering shower chance on saturday. and then we'll bring in the spring warmth with low to mid-70s sunday through wednesday of next week in our warmest spots with 60s right near the coastline. it's going to be dicey for the giants' home opener. just saying it the way it is. >> just calling it like you see it. >> she's totally transparent. we love that about you. >> thank you. well, burning man organizers proposing a big expansion. >> why they say the government is throwing a

as registration for burning man ticket s opens today, organizers say they are running into roadblocks for plans to expand that counter-culture festival. typically, it draws tens of thousands of people to the informed desert. organizers have a proposal to expand it to 100,000, but say the government is expressing concerns about a potential terrorist attack. it suggests increased security searches and new barriers. burning man organizers say some of the government's conditions are unreasonable. the a's have already had their home opener friday. tomorrow, it will be the giants' turn. but as you heard from sandhya, that's kind of a dicey weather situation. sky 7 flew over oracle park earlier today and you can see iseadyo goe scoreboard in center field and some of the bunting is going up. so pretty. the giants will play the tamba bay rays. first pitch is scheduled for 1:35 p.m. fans are encouraged to get there early for pre-game activities,

but again, you'll want to tune in and watch for the weather forecast. >> because they could get some sprinkles. but lots of fun. well, "captain marvel" has joined a fairly exclusive club. the superhero film starring brie larson is now in the billion-dollar club. it becomes the servant marvel studio's film to hit that magic number. it also is the first marvel film with a female superhero as the lead. the success is significant, because there was heavy online backlash after larsen commented that she would like to see more inclusivi inclusivity. marvel is owned by disney, which is the parent company of abc 7. people in hayward are hoping it will be a knockout. >> just ahead on abc 7 news at 5:00, t

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i'm ama daetz. coming up on abc 7 news at 6:00 -- >> i'm just wondering if you know you're double parked? >> yeah, he doesn't want to talk. that's the reality of ridesharing drivers, ignoring

the rules of the road, making traffic even worse. tonight, what local cities would like to do to fix the problem, but can't. also, right in the middle of the housing crunch, a south bay city moves to demolish dozens of affordable apartments for something brand-new. at 6:00, the confusion for renters and the plan in place to help them. all coming up at 6:00. >> ama, thanks. >> a bay area sports hero now owns a piece of a local business that makes gyros, in terms of sandwiches. >> ward joined the chain's namesake. >> that's right, ike they met only recently, but going into business together was an easy decision. > it was a no-brainer and it was about picking the location and hayward was the best location for me. everybody that knows me knows i have root s in hayward and root in oakland, but i'm a bay area

kid. anything i can do to give back, i'm all for it. >> he grew up in hayward and began boxing when he was 9. >> there are 17 ike's tonight, several breaking stories as we come on the air. hauled into court. the famous moms, the actresses accused of buying their children's way into college. felicity huffman of "desperate housewives," lori loughlin. and what the former "full house" actress said to the cameras, signing autographs, as well. and what we've learned tonight. also breaking, could it be a major break in the case? a boy missing since he was 6 years old. the surveillance of him with his mother. tonight, has he been found alive all these years later? a 14-year-old boy who claims he escaped a hotel, ran across state lines. > the new video just out tonighat he w says about the won who have come forward.

the american woman, a tourist, kidnapped tonight. they are demanding a half million dollars in ransom. the breaking headline