now at 6:00 a winter weather alert. still raining and the snow is about to arrive. >> while the evening commute is going okay it's the morning commute that could be a little rough. chief meteorologist mark johnson, you're using the power of 5 to track when the snow will arrive. >> a big winter storm in progress. for us we've been on the warm side through the day so we've seen heavy rain and more of that right now. follow me over we will show you what's going on, on the power of 5 radar. here we are. we've got waves of rain coming in right now. the first wave dumped more than an inch on most of you through the morning and early afternoon. a little bit of dry slot there as it moves away. the second wave coming into greater cleveland. akron, canton, you're beginning to dry out. a third wave wrapping into mansfield, toward ashland, eventually within the hour interest the akron, canton, and cleveland area. a few more waves of moderate to briefly heavy rain to go. but here is this major winter

look at the heavy snow michigan, northern indiana, over towards chicago. tornadoes on the ground right now through virginia and north caroline. >> we're right in the middle. warm side now, but we will get to the cold side of this thing later on tonight. and we're going to see the rain change over to snow, mainly after midnight. that's going to set up this for tomorrow during the day. winter weather advisory. calle hogue gas, lake gee awe gas, ashtabula counties. i think the entire viewing area, one to two, three inches of snow beginning after midnight through this time tomorrow. but in this area here, there could be easily three, four, five inches of snow beginning tomorrow morning during the rush. so all in all it is going to be a messy scenario for the next 24 hours. currently 42 elyria, but over into akron they're on the warm side, 53. 51 canton, 52 dover new philly. much colder air a few counties to our west. that's coming our way. tonight 40s and 50s he is

i think the snow holds off spots. it will move in west to east, and again we will track it in hour by hour and give you some snowfall expectations by the morning commute. a lot of kids want a snow day, danita and chris. we'll see. >> thank you mark. new tonight at 6:00, a local handyman known as apples will spend at least the next 35 years in prison, this after he was convicted of raping three women, one of those victims stood in the same courtroom with her attacker this morning. our kristin volk has been following this case for a year. kristin this man was arrested after testing on old rape kits connected him to some of his crimes. >> that's right, da knit that. his dna was the key evidence in those kits. and now we know that that handyman attacked a woman in 2009, picking her up as she walked home, then she woke up in an abandoned house. 14 years earlier he did much of the same thing.

finally spoke out here at court. >> i just want to say that over the last 20 years my life has been kind of hectic looking over my shoulder, wondering was this going to happen again. >> reporter: punctuated by heavy sighs this woman bravely addressed the judge with this man, her attacker, at her back. >> today i'm here for justice for me and all the other ladies, and praying that he gets what he deserves for what did he to me. >> reporter: it was here op cleveland's east side where van patterson raped this woman. the years 1995. she was just 16 at the time. she needed a ride to her friend's house from work. patterson or apples as he was known to her and others picked then -- >> we know that inside the car he attacked her. >> reporter: the prosecution argued for a longer sentence saying patterson had a pattern of getting girls and women in

the defense argued it was the victims what asked him for a ride. >> he asked for a ride because she had known mr. patterson from the lounge where they both worked at the time. >> did he see a woman on the street, had no doubt that he would prey upon her. >> reporter: but the county judge, addressing patter son, had no sympathy. >> but for the testing of these rape kits, but for the police and investigation of these cases, it would have gone unsold. >> reporter: patterson had no response. patterson is one of 162 serial offenders indated by the county's sexual assault task force. that task force is charged with investigate evidence in old rape kits and prosecuting the perpetrator. live in cleveland, kristin volk, newschannel5. let's go more in-depth about those cold case rape ciflts an on your side investigation revealed

on shelves going untested because police simply didn't have the manpower to test them. our investigation prompted two task forces to begin clearing those cases, and just last week our state's attorney general announced that his office tested 10,000 of those rape kits. former browns player reggie rucker pleading guilty to fraud, this after an investigation found he was using charitable donations to pay his personal bills. our frank wiley live in the newsroom with more on this developing story. >> reggie rucker entered the plea to wire frowd this afternoon in front of a federal judge. he admitted to take as much as $150,000 in donations from nonprofit organizations. court papers say rucker used that money to pay for gambling debt, mortgage payments, meals, and even entertainment. rucker's attorney says the whole ordeal stems from a gambling problem which he is getting help for now. rucker is scheduled to be

face up to two years in prison. danita. brand-new details about a story we brought you first on five. three people are now under arrest charged with beating a man to death at a local bus stop. 34-year-old dontez curlee was assaulted on january 21st. he died of his injuries the next day. today we learned police arrested andrew hilton, everett gunn and emmanuel churn. just hours ago curlee's family gathered at the bus stop to remember him. family members spoke to newschannel5 and told us two of the men were connected to the family dollar where curlee worked. they added one suspect was his manager. >> it hurts even more to even know somebody that he looked up to, somebody he worked for. still don't know why. answers going to come out.

they could not confirm the victim's relationship to the systems. and now at 6:00, video will you only see here on 5. we have exclusive body cam video as police arrest three people accused in a rash of a summit county car break-in. one of those suspects was on the radar for skipping out on a program. bob jones live in bath township with stolen property. >> reporter: the victims are silver lake. police are searching for the rightful owners. body cams show how it all happened after residents reported car break-ins. police chased down one suspect. police traced the cell phone of a second suspect, logan wagner and fad him at a cuyahoga falls apartment. inside they found a slew of stolen stuff from the cars of at least a dozen victims including wallets, purses, phones, ipads, credit cards, and radar detectors.

of stun gun, pepper separation and a police helmet stolen from an officer's personal vehicle. on top of that anthony hall was found hiding in a closet with a pit bull. hall had a warrant related to skipping out on a treatment program through oriana house. i spoke with a victim who told me a wallet and backpack were stolen from his daughter's car. >> i find it incredulous that folks put that much effort into casing to steal things that if they just took some of that effort from plotting and stealing to folks and put it to good old hard work and earning a living like the rest of us, i think america would be a better place. >> reporter: and tonight the sches are in the summit county jail facing different charges. more charges are expected to be filed against them. police told me all three are believed to be involved in the series of car break dirns throughout several communities in summit county and the officers stressed to me today that in all of the cases the

live in bath township, bob jones, newschannel5. a man is facing fraud charges for using her dead boyfriend's e bt card. she is accused of using the cards for months after a man was killed by a police officer. he pulled a knife on the officer and then lunged before he was shot. prosecutors decided the shooting was justified. a 17-year-old student of akron was taken into police custody after the student was found with a loaded gun inside of the school this morning. the school was placed on lockdown for about an hour while they found the student and recovered the gun. we are now less than three weeks away from ohio's primary, and a new baldwin wallace university poll released today shows governor john kasich neck and neck with donald trump in next month's voting. john kosich spent today pouring over the results and found

this is one of two polls that showcasic winning big come november. >> reporter: that's his argument to the republican voters in mississippi and louisiana where he was campaigning. the difficulty is, you have to get to november. the polls show trump and kasich in a statistical tie two, points apart the infield of five. but if you were to pit kasich and trump head to head, nobody else, voters would go for him in the primary by 17 points. kasich asked again today about it in gulf port, mississippi where he has the backing of trent lott. kasich stating he's in it to win it. >> no, i'm staying in because i think at the end of the day i'm going to accumulate enough delegates to win. that's what i think is going to has. we think we're going to be in a strong position and we're going to keep moving. if we end up at a brokered convention i can't think of a better city to have one in than cleveland, ohio. so we will see. okay. i don't think we'll do.

>> kasich pointing out 54 individual elections in this race and we've only held four. while those four have equaled 106 delegates, next tuesday will find six times that number up for grabs. so things are going to get interesting quick. on your side, john companies sick. still ahead on newschannel5 at 6:00 an unholy act in a very holy place. >> tonight the search is on after someone stole a donation filled with $1,000 from inside a local church. plus, explosive situation. e-cigarettes catching fire when they're not being used. the scary video and the important warning users. if you see news happening text or e-mail us or tweet us

new at 6:00 nearly $1,000 in church donations meant for at-risk kids is now missing. police are looking for the person who stole a collection jar full of cash. derick waller live at the elyria police department. derick, officers say the thieves knew what they were doing. >> reporter: well, they had to, because this jar, this collection jar, was in a part of the church that you had to

know where that jar was. now this happened sometime sunday night into monday at the church. someone broke in through a side window and stole a 10-gallon jug full of coins and bills attached to a little red wagon. that money was meant for at- risk children at the cleveland christian home. >> it's our kids helping other kids, and ironically we're trying to keep people from lives of crime and from criminal acts and from treating neighbors badly. >> reporter: and the church has no security system or cameras. pastor long telling me that's because they wanted this place to feel open to the entire community, but after this they are now reconsidering and looking at new security options. live inside elyria police, derick waller. more news, concerns about

cruisers broke down during a speed chase. the state highway patrol had to take over during sunday's pursuit. so today we dug into what happened. and we learned that several cruisers are rusting and at least one, listen to this, is pushing 200,000 miles. the department has put a lerkz vy on the march ballot saying that a recession and cuts in state funding hurt the budget. smucker's -- smokers know the health warnings from smoking but there's a new warning about e-gressments. >> an e-cigarette exploded in someone's pocket. officials aren't sure how it exploded butt set off the smoke detector. they say the contact with keys sparked it. >> some of these devices have caused fires and done significant damage, or damage to people's houses and cars. >> we have video of an e- cigarette exploding.

as the man was standing at a gas station counter. it set his pants on fire. he was taken to the hospital with severe burns on his legs. back to you. >> ouch, ouch, out. mark, it's been a busy weather day. >> we're not done. we're only halfway through this winter storm. over an inch of rain for many of you out there. more to come. then we get snow. tomorrow morning's rush and beyond. let's sort is it out. we had a little bit of sunshine for 10 minutes in cleveland an hour and a half ago. then clouds are back and so are the rain showers. this looks like a spring sky out there. look at the haze hanging overhead. scattered rain showers. we've got 43 degrees now. the warmest we've been. we're in the mid-40s in cuyahoga county. so the surge of warmth is coming in. notice that first wave of rain that dropped anywhere from three-quarters of an inch to an

that is gone. here's another batch where you see the yellows and onlies, batch number three right here. we'll zoom in. west siersd, from downtown cleveland through ohio city into par marks strongsville, north olmsted, up to avon lake that is heavy rain. low visibilities moving west out of downtown cleveland, and definitely wet, wet, wet roadways as that heavy rain comes down. here's another batch of moderate to heavy rain, savannah to ashland to vermilion, moving north and east towards congress, wooster, homerville, and medina over the next hour. we've got a winter weather advisory greater cleveland, points east into the snow belt. that kicks in at 3:00 a.m. tomorrow morning through the day, through thursday afternoon. as we see it transition from rain to wet snow. look at the cold air here. it's not far away. 33 fremont, 53 in arc crone. we've got a 20-degree temperature difference here.

the door, and it's not going to take much to wrap it in. it's actually going to take an area of low pressure to move up over cleveland then away. that will happen this evening before midnight. once that low moves away, then we get cold and change to the snow. 40 today. the average is 40. but we will bump that high up a little bit more because we're already at 43 degrees. so just in the last 10 minutes we've warmed you up. 32 the low, 25 is the average. all right, here's the storm system. big old vigorous low pressure over cincinnati. we've got tornadoes on the ground, raleigh up to richmond, virginia, right here in this line. serious severe weather right now moving up into washington, d.c. as well. and here's the heavy snow, blizzard conditions, just outside of chicago. there's the low. and here's northern ohio. the low is going to track up over cleveland over the next six hours. behind it wrap-around cold and snow just in time for your morning commute. we're not expecting a monster

take a lot of snow to cause slippery roadways to cause headaches and travel issues for you beginning tomorrow morning. here is 6:00 a.m. it is snow, temperatures lower 30s and upper 20s, snow could be briefly moderate during the morning and early afternoon. and then by 7:00 p.m. most of it has gone away. right now it looks like between now and 7:00 a.m., an inch or less of snowfall, then between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. tomorrow we get another one to four inches of snow. not a huge amount, but enough, it's heavy, wet snow, could slow you down. 32 tonight, rain to snow, an inch or less by dawn. it is going to be colder. tomorrow 34 degrees. wet snow. one to four inches during the day. windy and cold. your seven-day, friday, lake- effect snow east, 28. but look at the weekend. holy mackerel. flirting with 60 by sunday. who is your favorite? >> you are, mark. >> of course. all the time.

>> cavs home tonight. >> they're hosting the charlotte hornets. lebron james also addressing his age and his health. more on that in sports. plus hue jackson talks about johnny manziel's future with the team and the set of expectations the browns have for players moving forward.

browns executives along with every other nfl front office is in iron dean appear place for the nfl combine where some of the country's best prospects will have an opportunity to show there is case their athletic abilities and meet with nfl teams. the browns looking for new players, looks like they're also moving on from some old ones that confirm that contract talks between browns and travis benjamin have broken down. he's not the only ones the browns arely moving on from. johnny manziel is another one but for different reasons. hue jackson discussion manziel today who has made headlines for mostly non football situations. >> his future on our team will be addressed here pretty soon but let me say this. i think it's really important that obviously there was some people involved in the situation that happened, and i feel very bad about those things as they do happen. but i want to make sure we all

will not be tolerated as we move forward. that's all i want to say about it. i want to leave it at that. our organization is going to take a stand and move on from those kind of situations as we move forward. the cavs coming off a loss pistons. tonight they're hosting the charlotte hornets. lebron not having his best games in the cavs' loss to detroit shooting 5 of 18, finishing with eight rebounds. for most any other player those final shots aren't terrible but the expectations for lebron are different. he says' feeling much healthier this year than last year. >> i understand you guys are i feel great. >> reporter: why the change? >> from last year? it's how my body was feeling. my body was feeling banged up. this year i feel ten times better. that's the mind-set.

tip-off 7:00 p.m. >> go cassments. what's your mind-set? >> my mind-set is rain, and then snow tonight. we'll have the latest on the arrival of the snow at 11:00. make sure you join us. thanks for watching newschannel5 at 6:00. >> we'll see you back here at 11:00.

breaking news tonight. we're on the scene of a deadly tornado outbreak. several states, homes destroyed. a dangerous night ahead from south carolina all the way up through new york. also breaking tonight, the race for president, and donald trump, now marching to super tuesday. his landslide win in nevada. and the major republican now predicting a trump surprise. the abc news exclusive tonight. my one-on-one interview with apple's ceo, tim cook. for the first time, cook on why apple is refusing to help the fbi break into the iphone used by the san bernardino killer. new details tonight on the pilot in that deadly chopper crash. what he was trying to do. and the famous sports reporter, the "dancing with the stars" host, erin andrews, suing