right now a news channel 8 at 5:30. running a high-end electronics theft ring out of the bay area. and organized crime ring busted. 8 on your side look at what it took to bring the crooks down. i'm jennifer leigh. for being with us. a massive organized crime operation brought down by pope county detectives after a two year investigation and seven facing racketeering charges accused of running a theft ring. melissa ott marino explains a targeted walmarts all over polk county and beyond.>> reporter: the criminals hit walmarts and

they hit this walmart on south florida avenue two times making off with carpels of expensive electronics. they are not your average shoplifters. these seven people are looking at decades behind bars for racketeering. >> they are experienced criminals and organize to steal. >> reporter: they are accused of running an electronic theft ring. boldly walking out with electronics stuffed in bags or sometimes more sneaky. >> they would put them in boxes of diapers and fell the box back. they would go through and scan the box for the diaper cost, put it in the bag and walk out of the store. >> reporter: and then turn around and sell it. $178,000 worth of merchandise total. >> you know who pays for that? not walmart. you do is the consumer.>> reporter: jerry shops at walmart and wasn't happy to hear about it. >> it makes prices go up on everything else. >> reporter: they hit stores all over polk county and detectives worked with other agencies and the state to catch them.

county jail and three still on the run. the share of has a message for anyone getting in the business of stealing. >> keep your sticky fingers out of the store unless you want to go to the county jail. and we don't have nothing to steal from their except orange jumpsuits. >> reporter: crime stoppers offering a $2000 reward for each of the three people on the run and more information on our website wfla.com. in lakewood myrtle some marino news channel that channel up to 13 in louisiana and now people are bracing for more rain on the way. the historic flooding left massive destruction and at least 40,000 homes damaged by water and 6000 people are in shelters now. more than 1400 pets were rescued from the floodwaters. shelters throughout louisiana

the pets until their families can find them. ryan hughes shows us dozens of shelter dogs up for adoption before the flood were diverted to the bay area.>> reporter: they got here in a not so fancy way. the u-haul trucks were packed to the brim with dozen of dogs and final destination the humane society of tampa bay. animal shelters in and around baton rouge louisiana have been inundated with stray dogs found in floodwaters. parts of the state were socked with more than two feet of rain causings >> it's bad. coming from where the rain stopped and the water is back flowing from rivers and nowhere to go. >> reporter: this local firefighter and other volunteers filled the vans with crates and headed to the sunshine state. they pulled an all nighter leaving louisiana at 7:00 last night and getting to tampa and 8:00 this morning. >> it's pretty cool. once we got into tampa bay it

>> reporter: these dogs were already in the pound but had to be moved out of state so louisiana shelters can make room for new strays and lost dogs coming in. >> they reached out to us and said we need help. we need to find homes for the animals we already have in the shelter. >> reporter: facilities from tato here is video at some of them prepared for the 12 hour drive to florida. more are expected in the next few days. this is low taken from a shelter louisiana and like the other dogs with him he will be put up for adoption in the next few days. and will have a new home after being left with nowhere to live. >> the dogs will be evaluated by veterinarians, microchips and spayed or neutered and you can call the humane society of tampa bay if you would like to

believed murdered a florida couple and then bit the man's face had his own youtube page with bizarre videos. >> i no longer want to follow arnold or any other bodybuilder. i want to follow myself. i know what is right for me. i don't need drugs. i know they can change me.>> that is 19-year-old harrouff. he posted this five days ago and you hear him talking about why he doesn't need steroids and ranting about bodybuilding. his mother said he was acting oddly recently and tests are being done to see if he ingested flakka or bath salts. doctors at the regional medical center have a promising update on the last pulse nightclub shooting survivor. that patient made a slight improvement. they had been in critical

june 12. no other information was given and we don't know the patient's identity. this may sound like an odd request but researchers looking for volunteers willing to be infected with the zika virus for science. it's for a study they want to conduct this winter when mosquitoes are not fighting to help speed up the development of much needed zika vaccines. more than 650,000 floridians receiving meid they can only use big chain pharmacies to have prescriptions filled. mike vasilinda explains that has locally owned drugstores crying foul. >> reporter: this pharmacy is a locally owned business in quincy 25 miles west of the state capital and a favorite for locals.>> i have been going here just about since i was born and i know the people that own it. >> reporter: locally owned stores across florida feel

two companies account for almost one of every five medicaid patients and they are limiting prescription refills to the big chains, not small stores like this one. >> you have a policy statement that says the patient can go over here but can't go over there. >> reporter: the pharmacy association is complaining loudly. >> they are being told the taxes the fees you pay to fund for the medicaid program to care for the incident are good enou services are not.>> reporter: 80 years ago this was started by his grandfather. >> if one company gets away doing this others will follow suit. it's just a matter of time. >> reporter: manis plans are allowed to control networks based on three factors, price, quality and credentials. pharmacists say they only focus on price. mom-and-pop's say they can't

chance. >> jobs will be lost and we are local.>> reporter: ultimately lawmakers will have the final say if hmos begin limiting competition. in quincy florida mike vasilinda, news channel 8. the race for reelection bid marco rubio teaming up with mitt romney. the former gop nominee reaching out to private donors and praising marco rubio as a voice of reason and thoughtfulness. the recent support doesn't he supported the senator before he stepped out of the presidential race. flaming chunks of plastic the size of golf balls and batteries shooting out like projectiles. that's how would dania beach father describes a hoverboard explosion. it happened when his sons hoverboard overheated when it was charging and he believes the batteries exploded and caught fire. hundreds of thousands of the hoverboards are under recall

they said they were held at gunpoint in rio but brazilian police did not buy it. >> how the ordeal impacts the summer games and the athlete still competing. they gave it their all and bringing home bronze. a one-on-one interview with volleyball star april ross. hear about her emotional final game and rio. 92 degrees and a hot week. showers and thunderstorms firing up around the sea breeze, we will show you radar and your weekend for shortly. that and more coming up. you are watching news channel 8, the station that is alw

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alive today and help to create showers and thunderstorms and close to the coast or out in the gulf of mexico past several days. 81 degrees in temperature dropped at new port richey and south wins 14 miles per hour. you see the wet streets and not much accumulated precipitation. read them plaza at sun city center 84 degrees and you don't have to be under a shower to see rain-cooled air. that's a view from lakeland and you see the crowds and thunderstorms and a bit of a downpour. 82 degrees in temperature. partly cloudy skies throughout the evening and temperatures falling a little bit. 91 degrees saturday and 30% rain chance at the coast. westerly flow west to northwesterly and sunday lower at 20%. a few scattered showers and plenty of sunshine and warmer temperatures. the sea breeze is classic here, past few days sea breeze on the

colliding with the stuff coming from the east coast. showers and thunderstorms form in the western sections of hernando and pasco county. citrus county quiet. thunderstorms lighting up this area from new port richey at the hyundai dealership and across the northern sections of pinellas county, palm harbor north and write up 19 into hernando county. those showers continue to drop central part of pinellas county everything moves west and strong thunderstorms in manatee and sarasota county with small hail. moving west and the sea breeze collision with overall easterly flow pushing it back to the west. thunderstorms developed in inglewood and southern part of sarasota county and points south of that and charlotte county. a good complex of storms and outflow coming from that line but looks like right here north

which might slow traffic for people going home. 81 degrees this evening and rain-cooled air. 82 at tampa international airport. 83 in st. petersburg. the evening is more pleasant when temperatures drop. tropical storm fiona 45 mile- per-hour winds but not expecting much for it. commuter -- computer models turn north. watching a couple tropical waves including storms coming off africa. here than it did 24 hours ago. the spaghetti model moves it to the north of eventually and then a north turned today. short-term for us showers and storms can develop especially early evening hours and the line is the sea breeze lighting up at this point and pushing off to the west. around 9:00 we can see remaining showers in the area. 40% rain chance friday and 30%

highs near 90 degrees and plenty of sunshine this weekend. slightly below rain chances which means warm temperatures and today's high of 92 is the way it has been. the records this week were set back in 1960. three days in a row so must of been a hot year but no records today. >> we start to feel bad about what we are going through but then you think back to the 60s and we don't have it so bad. thank you steve now 8 on your side special ve police working to set the record straight on ryan lochte's claims he and three swimmers were held up at gunpoint. officials say it didn't happen the way ryan lochte said it did that they believe the swimmers were not victims of a crime. authorities say the americans were confronted by security guards after they trashed a gas station restroom and not robbed but forced to pay for damages.

overshadowing athlete still there working hard in the olympics. what is the feeling in rio? >> reporter: the disappointing part is not only the ryan lochte story but combine it with what happen yesterday and the ioc with the senior board member arrested in a hotel in downtown rio wearing a bathrobe as part of a ticket scalping scheme. outrageous sounding stuff that is overshadowing all of the performances here. it's taking away from it and rio doesn't want that. they want to focus solely on the athletes and what they are achieving but because of other incidents downtown like robberies, some athletes really were held up at gunpoint and robbed of their wallets, they are trying to eliminate distractions but they keep popping up. >> you mentioned the ioc

>> reporter: i think amongst american media it's the ryan lochte story but overall the ioc story is massive when you consider it's an organization that has fought charges of corruption and the bidding process for the olympic games has become such a farce. you can research that on your own but it's the truth. they have had a real struggle with keeping that organization at a level that is respectable and doesn't reek of impropriety. that is a bigger long-term issue. we will laugh about in a few years but i don't know if we will laugh about the ioc. >> who knows how this will affect his marketability in the future. a big story in the states. we will follow this and we appreciate your report live from rio de janeiro. we continued the coverage of the summer games and rio. despite the heartbreak of kerri walsh jennings and april ross not winning the gold medal they took the bronze. paul ryan sat down with april ross to discuss the emotional

bronze medalist and you had a silver medal before, do you know where it is? >> i have a ceramic moves that hangs above the fireplace in the silver metal adorns one side of the antlers and this will go on the others. >> reporter: does this mean more because you had to fight so long to get a? >> i have mixed emotions. i am so proud of the bronze medal and what it took for us to get it. i am disappointed about the semi final that we were not able to get you can't dwell on that. we found ourselves in a situation that was tough and we pulled through and i am proud. >> reporter: there were more women representing team usa than in any past year and is one of them what can you say about what women have accomplished in the olympics particularly for the red white and blue? >> i am not surprised. i am so proud to be an american. our culture should be an

our fears and compete and get it done. hopefully we do serve as an example. >> reporter: what's the craziest thing that has happened the entire time you have been here, the weirdest thing? >> the first day i was here i've been given a gift of diamond earrings in the first practice my coach nails me in the side of the head with the ball and my hearing pops up in the sand. >> it's gone? >> it's gone. i hope someone finds it and makes a living bronze. >> bummer but congratulations to them and you can catch paul ryan's reports every morning a news channel 8 and watch the extras on the olympics section on wfla.com. security concerns at a busy u.s. airport. >> what a worker was able to get past security that has travelers feeling uneasy. you can join jenn holloway julie phillips and me every

now to what's making headlines across america. u.s. marshal's offering a $5000

for information for the capture of an escaped inmate in alabama. eric washington use the home a nice to force an officer to give him his keys. he let himself out of jail and has not been seen since. he was convicted a week ago for the attempted murder of a greene county deputy and is considered armed and dangerous. a fighter jet crash near las vegas-based and the pilot suffered minor injuries. he ejected as it went down after completing -- completing else injured. a woman who works at memphis international airport made it through a tsa checkpoint with a loaded gun in her bag. the tsa agent saw suspicious item in her bag but it was not flagged or so she grabbed the bag and went to work. later the tsa agent realized the item in the bag was a loaded gun. part of the airport were shut down until they can find the weapon and travelers were on edge. >> i feel the reason she got by was they knew her so they

until someone else came along and said that looked like a gun. >> the woman who brought the gun said she forgot it was in her bag. she was fired and the tsa who screened it resigned. news channel 8 at 6:00 coming up. from tampa to south florida the trail that led police to serial burglars. >> we will show you how investigators caught the three suspects and what's being done to get the victim's belongings returned. the high-speed chase with a dramatic ending. how after. they have seen an increase in the number of requests to come out in spray bushes like these for mosquitoes. i will tell you if the spray works and if so how long. two veterans and benefits by the veterans administration. 8 on your side wants answers and takes them to a congressman. those stories pleasure storm team a forecast and sports with dan lucas coming up a news channel 8. the station

today, we can connect more.... play more... do more. and all that more takes energy. at duke energy, we're doing more too. more innovative technology, like ways to fix outages before they happen... ...for more reliable energy every day. so no matter how much you do, we're always here....

right now on juice channel 8 at 6:00. neighbors living in fear for months. now finally three arrested in a major burglary ring. what led to the break in the case. a profit. we dig deeper into mosquito spraying your lawn and if it works. broken promises and veterans who served bravely forced to wait in line for an attorney the. i'm keith cate.'s in i'm stacie schaible and thanks for joining us. they are sophisticated pimmit hills that detectives have been

25 burglaries in affluent south tampa neighborhoods and police believe they have caught the crooks. we have reported on a string of burglaries since march and jeff patterson joins us live in a neighborhood where the burglaries took place in finally released for people. >> reporter: good evening. this is not the kind of neighborhood you associate with crime but homes have been hit over and over again. police have great surveillance video and photos of the suspected thieves but it was a solid credit card that helped lead to their the images are perfectly clear. showing suspected burglars knocking on doors and calmly walking through south tampa homes to take expensive jewelry and high-end electronics. >> they took all of our jewelry. >> reporter: elizabeth lives in one of the 25 homes hit them since march. >> it was difficult because a lot of the things were family heirlooms. >> reporter: a team of