you can help. >> a lakeland counselor's idea of therapy police say is actually a sex crime. coming up, how the doctor is defending his actions. >> good morning. thank you for joining us on abc on this wednesday. i'm deiah riley. >> i'm dan shaffer. let's start with a check of traffic and weather together. >> i was just checking traffic cameras, we have a crash on i-4 near kathleen road. we'll look at that coming up. >> weatherwise looking at a few morning coastal showers. they have not yet reached but once they do they will continue to develop. by the time we get into the afternoon we'll talk about thunderstorms as well. interior counties don't have to worry. in fact most of us get through the commute dry, no downpours at this point. we're in the mid and upper 70s now. a few low 70s. lakeland 70 degrees. 71 brooksville. by late this week we will have some dry air moving in. that will allow temperatures to fall back nicely into the 60s. we've done that so far this season but not a lot. so that is coming. something to look forward to,

friday. for now we're going to continue with the showers that are still off-shore but making progress. 8:00, 9:00 we'll fill in a little more. some survived the trip, along the coastal areas, it's what i'm thinking as far as the rain this morning. then we do get into higher coverage between 10:00 and then we get into the afternoon, more heating and showers continuing to develop. and that means thunderstorms for us. rain coverage 30% to 40% this afternoon. not unusual but just with the west wind the is we start the rain a little earlier and start it along the coast so let's get to the crash with janelle. so far doesn't look too bad. we're keeping an eye on it with traffic cameras. you can see the flashing lights, westbound i-4 just past kathleen road. looks like emergency vehicles already on scene. good news, it's off in the shoulder so we're seeing just a slight delay, people just stopping to look -- or slowing down to look as they pass by not really causing major delays at the moment.

south tampa, henderson boulevard just west of lois avenue, both inside lanes are taken away while they do some emergency road work. also still have the closure on macdill just north of bay-to- bay so give yourself extra time for that detour. it's 5:32. a lakeland counselor's brand of therapy lands him in jail. detectives say what was actually happening in anthony conte's office was a sex crime. at least two of his female patients. anchor lakeland now. we're hearing this investigation is just the beginning. >> reporter: just beginning. conte has been a licensed mental health counselor in the area for 15 years. police believe there could be more victims. the two women that have come forward did so just two weeks ago as the detailed sessions with conte consisted of inappropriate touching, groping with conte allegedly telling them it was part of a treatment to rid the women's bodies of

this made the women uncomfortable enough to contact police so they did. conte now faces two counts of felony sexual conduct. again lakeland police believe there could be more victims so they are asking anyone this morning who had a similar experience with him to come forward. live in lakeland, james tully, abc action news. 5:33. detectives looking for the vandals who spray painted black lives matter and kill white people on walls in businesses and homes. this road. the words were quickly painted over by county workers yesterday. a home just a few miles away was also covered in black lettering. campaign signs in the front yard weren't spared either. local restaurant also saw some damage. >> if it's uncalled for. there's a way to protest. a way not to. this is just -- hurts everybody. >> detectives say without surveillance video or witnesses they don't have much to go on. they are counting on the community to bring the vandals to justice.

accused of tricking a car salesman and driving off with a brand new red corvette. the sticker price, more than $100,000. the car was stolen from the chevrolet dealership in st. pete. st. pete detectives want to speak to two people at the dealership around the same time the car disappeared. according to employees the same man and woman were at the dealership two days before and that is believed that's when the key fob was >> it's not uncommon someone comes in, spends time with a salesperson, distracts them, switch keys and take off with the car. the dealership is offering a $2,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest. detectives are investigating. instead of flocking to florida this winter some visitors may be avoiding the state because of zika. our economy could take a hit. experts suggest the state could see a 15% drop in visitors who are worried about the zika virus.

nearly 33% drop. however, popular north florida destinations are benefiting. travel is up, in the daytona beach and tallahassee areas. if you're looking for a new job. head to tampa international airport. there will be a job fair for police officers, dispatchers and others. go to abcactionnews.com. breaking news overnight -- 5:35 now. former israeli shimon peres died. funeral services scheduled for friday. it comes two weeks after suffering a major stroke. 93 years old. he was the last living link to israel's founding fathers. he was a key player in a landmark peace agreement with the palestinians. president obama and bill and hillary clinton are expected to attend his funeral. in democracy 2016 -- the former beauty queen now at the center of a fight between donald trump and hillary clinton is now talking about the incident. during monday night's debate clinton said trump called

fat shamed her after winning miss universe 20 years ago. here's what trump said were it on fox news yesterday. >> she gained a massive amount of weight and it was a real problem. we had a real problem. not just that, her attitude. we had a real problem with her. >> machado is now starring in a campaign ad supporting clinton. she says trump shamed her in front of reporters 20 years ago and as a result she says she developed an eating disorder. here's what she had to say about trump. >> i believe and i think this person -- he think are a second class of people. and somebody like that can't be a president. >> trump campaign says alicia machado is lobbying a smear campaign to gain notoriety at trump's expense. the campaign also called her allegations baseless and

debate? a lot of people are talking about this. the answer depends on who you ask. a cnn poll shows hillary clinton won, according to more than 60% of people polled. fewer than 30% named trump the winner. meanwhile a fox news on-line poll says trump won. turns out trump can't get you out of a ticket. a state trooper in washington pulled over a driver who was driving in the hov lane with this trump cutout passenger seat. labor department launched a probe into wells fargo's workplace practices looking at a possible wage, overtime and working hour violations. the group of democrat senators asked the department to investigate whether the bank's tellers, branch managers and customer service reps were harassed or threatened with termination if they didn't meet aggressive sales goals. 5,300 employees have been fired since 2011. now a review is needed to determine whether the nation's

the fair labor standards act. to concerns over note 7 phone. one man claims this is all that is left of his phone after bursting into flames while charging. says he bought it in china last week. the phones sold there are not part of the company's massive recall because samsung says batteries for those phones are made by a different supplier. brad pitt may be going through a divorce but not dead. if you see a post on-line that says he's dead don't click it, you might get hacked. facebook is warning users that the that the headline rip brad pitt is a scam. it takes to you a prompt for your user name and password. entering it on the wrong screen gives hackers control of your account. remember the two men who rushed the "dancing with the stars" stage at olympian ryan lochte? now they face charges for that. they said they wanted to get the message out that lochte is

a criminal. he and several teammates face criticism for lying about a drunken incident during the rio olympics. look at this amazing video. we'll show it again. promise. this dolphin crashes down on that 13-year-old surfer in australia. to be fair looks like the boy may have dropped in on the dl fin's wave. the boy says he tried to get out of the way. the dolphin landed on his shoulder and back and even put a hole in his board. nobody seems hurt. the boy says the dolphin seemed just as shocked as he was and appeared ok as it swam away. as we check in on titan doppler radar morning showers. we'll be ok through most of the morning as far as the commute. then we'll get into some afternoon showers and storms with this westerly flow.

be talking about something unusual in the sky coming up for friday. i'll show it to you in a couple of minutes. 5. 40. still to come -- a former executive who dramatically raise the the price of a life saving drug is know offering to let someone punch him in the face. how you can be that person. >> take a look at this deer, ahead, why police had to break

welcome back. 5:43. a football hall of famer will talk to students in pinellas county as part of dads take your child to school day. former bucs coach tony dungy will talk about character development and importance of a male role model to a child. he'll speak from 11:30 to 2:00 at gibbs high school this st. pete this afternoon. two thieves in maryland were caught on camera crashing a stolen mersaidies into a jewelry store. police say 30 seconds, left the car behind. the store is doing inventory to see what was taken but already know the thieves got away with several watches. the man who was once called the most hated man in america wants to you punch him in the face. not joking. he really wants to you do this. >> you can get in line to do this. martin skreli gained notoriety for jacking up the price of a potentially life saving drug while a pharmaceutical executive. he's raveling the chance to

friend mike who recently died and left behind his 5-year-old son who survived leukemia. so far skreli raised more than $6,500. probably going to go a lot higher. >> sure it is. >> at least it's for a good cause. he's not known for that. it's a good thing in a way, right? >> he's changed in >> yeah. just takes time sometimes. let's check in on the conditions now. we are looking good. if you're getting ready to hit the roads for a wednesday commute we're looking good. janelle will be up in a second with the traffic update, but as far as weather, not going to bother you this morning. we have coastal showers that will eventually come in but i think they are not going to be heavy or widespread to really have an impact on our morning drive. by midday, for lunchtime the showers will become a little bit more widespread. then by then they will keep

talking thunderstorms eventually through the afternoon. wider shot of the weather pattern here, we still have this westerly flow that will continue with us the next few days and we have dry air to the north that will eventually get here but won't get here until friday so for now we're sticking with the showers and storms. once the dry air moves in across our northern counties we're not going to completely shut the rain chances off. that will just lower them bigtime there and also allow for cooler temperatures in the morning. we're due for that at this point. so the showers march east. there we are through hillsborough, pinellas into manatee county by 10:00 a.m. then heads east the next several hours. we'll watch for. that as far as the 7-day forecast, looking pretty good as far as rain chances. typical for this time of year, 30%. essentially 30% to 40% the next few days. that will keep temperatures into the upper 80s. that includes by the way the upper coming weekend for both saturday and sunday. let's take you outside and show

our tower cam. looking gorgeous. if you've been noticing the last few days we've had a lovely crescent moon out there. that we've been able to see. but, coming up, this friday, this is not what you are going to see. this is the full moon, but watch as we take you into friday the moon is going to do a disappearing act. very unusual for that to happen. the reason it's unusual is because it's happening twice. it's essent we get those twice a month but this time we're about getting a third one and so we call that a black moon. the equivalent when you get three full moons in one month, that would be a blue moon. so you've been seeing on social media black moon is coming. it's ok. we're going to be fine. it's just a new moon happening a few more times than we're used to. janelle, let's check on traffic. you learn something new everyday. had no idea there was more than

on i-4 not causing any huge delays, this is westbound around lated area another kathleen road -- lakeland area near kathleen road. flashing lights to the side. cars slowing down a little. look at drive times, not slowing down at all. your average speeds from the apex, from the wesley chapel area to i-4 looking great, on i- 75 and 275, both in the green. 5:48. auth looking for the person who shot a cat with an arrow. the cat was taken to a vet who performed emergency surgery and saved its life. they are working on getting the cat healthy enough to be adopted. even more disturbing, it was shot at close range with a blunt tipped practice arrow indicating it was probably shot on purpose. this video here is of a deer stuck in a metal fence in pittsburgh. police were called out, an officer grabbed a blanket and covered the deer to help calm

they used cable cutters but not strong enough to break through the steel bars so they used a tool similar to jaws of life. it took a while but they were able to get the deer out and then look at that, the deer wasted no time running off. amazing reunion eight years in the making. boca raton woman reunited with her dog after it got out of the house while she was on vacation eight meet "pia zadorable," terrierics how resting safe at home. the owner says she got it back from a rescue center, they found her because of the dog's microchip. there were a few health issues, needed new shots but for the most part ok because someone had obviously been taking care of her for nearly a decade. the owner says she's so thankful it was the microchip that brought pia back to her. >> you find a stray dog, take them immediately to a vet or one of the shelters and they

there's another owner grieving and that dog can be returned if it has a microchip. the most important thing for all dogs. she adopted pia from the humane society at age 4 and says last friday bringing her home again was the best day of her life. 5:50. coming up, a big change for the university of florida athletics. >> why the new director says he

morning coastal showers for today. we'll have certainly activity by the time we get to lunchtime and heading home with upper 80s. 40% chance of showers and storms later on today. more on the extended forecast comi 5:53. today's a milestone day for tim tebow's baseball career. he's going to take the field for the mets instructsal teams game against the cardinals club he's hit well in camp. we'll let you know how he does in the game. gator fans, gator haters, a big change coming to the university of florida athletic department. mississippi state scott stricklin will take over in gainesville. he said he left his alma mater only because the florida

down. stricklin's six-year deal is worth a little over $1 million a year. jeremy foley will remain on the job for at least another month. at age 96 reserved sheriff's deputy tom morgan has the right to retire but says he doesn't want to. he started in the marines in world war ii and served his first tour in guadalcanal. >> lost a lot of people, a lot of friends were killed. i >> morgan later became an engineer and retired from that job at the age of 62 but then went back to work at 71, this time as a reserve deputy. he says he had to go through the same training as everybody else. >> the they threw a fit with a taser. to get a taser you have to get tased. >> he mainly works special events and also patrols the ship channel leading into the

into fist fights but says he can if necessary. two men who found a backpack full of pipe bombs in new jersey and notified police are being honored by the city. >> both men received the keys to the city last night. until now parker was homeless for two years. he found the backbackpack and wanted it for a job interview the next day but had to give to it police. a local charity is now raising money for opportunity to get his life back on track. i have a room. i have a hotel. i'm no longer homeless thank god because these wonderful people reached out to me. and made my life a better. >> no one was hurt by the pipe bombs that white and parker found. bombing suspect ahmad rahami is in a new jersey hospital where

suffered in a police shootout. protests in charlotte. police say one group was ganging up on a man. the vicious crime caught on video. >> new information in the boating accident that took the life of major league star jose fernandez. also this morning how the local community is remembering him. coming up in a live report.

new details on what led up to the death of star pitcher jose fernandez. the final texas change before the ill-fated boat ride. new local plans to honor the

news. another police involved death, one image officers are releasing showing why they fired. thank you for joining us on this wednesday. i'm dan shaffer. >> i'm deiah riley. that police shooting already sparking protests on the west coast. officers reacting quickly now trying to keep the peace. >> we're monitoring the tensions all morning but let's start with your wednesday newscast with traffic and weather together. ivan cabrera standing by with florida's most accurate 7-day forecast. >> we're starting off quietly, to lower 80s along the coast and we'll get back into the upper 80s this afternoon. what we have is a westerly wind, that will favor the coastal showers that i'm tracking so far this morning. they will transition into inland thunderstorms. the temperatures through the week on average will be back in the upper 80s, humidity will make it feel a little warmer. of course we're still tracking the disturbance close to the lesser antilles, becoming matthew, a tropical storm, likely later today. mid and upper 70s now with

dry one. notice we replaced now mid and upper 70s of a few weeks ago into the low 70s. titan doppler radar as far as any showers staying off-shore now, through the morning they will transition and continue to move further inland. we'll watch for that hour by hour takes us to 1:00 and then we're 88. rain chance 30% to 40%. hurricane hunters just flown and are on the way to investigate our tropical system. more on that comin roads. just a minor crash, follow me on twitter @tampabaytraffic. this crash here on i-4 is off to the side, not causing delays, this is westbound around kathleen in lakeland. again no delays on i-4. a quick check of the drive, i-275 in pinellas county at 54th avenue north up to speed from bridge- to-bridge. back to you. we're learning some new details about the night that