really belongs to the mastermind of this prostitution ring. >> basically say to them hey, you're pretty do. you want to make some money? and through flattery and coercion and threats of violence they would lure these young women into acts of prostitution. >> reporter: u.s. attorney neil macbride also says the men relied on other women in his organization to lure them. in this is an exchange on facebook between one of these women mw and a 17-year-old victim who was approached at high school. mw says you trying to make some money? the victim replies how? mw says tricking. you get 50% and you get all the drugs you want. the ringleader is 26-year-old justin strom. he's accused of prostituting the girls in motels and going door to door soliciting clients in apartment buildings. the girls were given drugs and alcohol and if they refused to have sex, they were often beaten, raped and in one instance strom even forced a 17-

year-old girl to perform a sex act on him while holding a knife to her neck. that same girl had been targeted on facebook. >> as parents we need to truly be more aware of the risks that our sons and our daughters face. i ask that parents speak often with their children. i ask that they support them, ask questions. >> reporter: it was actually a vigilant parent who helped launch this investigation four months ago. investigators say if you have a teenage daughter, talk to them about this case because there are likely many more victims out there. in alexandria kristin fisher, 9 news now. >> prosecutors do say this is the 16th human trafficking case in the eastern district of virginia this year alone. a fire has burned at least three townhomes in a residential section of andrews air force base. the names broke out this afternoon and with all the -- the flames broke out this afternoon and with all the wind we've had those names spread quickly from one house to the

homes next-door and also a natural gas line ruptured. firefighters got help from the prince george's county firefighters no, reports of injuries, the cause of the fire still under investigation. heavy hearts today at surrattsville high in prince george's county as students there are mourning the death of tekau rasayon who collapsed and died during hers p.e. class wednesday. bruce leshan -- her p.e. class wednesday. bruce leshan with the story. >> reporter: the students here were weeping as they marched back on the track here. her dad said it felt like he had been shot in the back when he walked into the emergency room at southern maryland hospital and saw doctors desperately trying to resuscitate his daughter. >> this was my baby, man. >> reporter: tekau's father is struggling to understand her sudden death. >> i saw them doing chest compressions. and then you go and see your baby lying there and then you take a peek and you see her

pupils completely dilated, man, you know. >> reporter: one of his last memories of his daughter waltzing in the kitchen with her as she prepared for her upcoming catillion dance. >> i just slept in her bed and then i asked her why did she cross over, you know, and after i had gone through my little battery of questions to the great spirit like, you know, why would you snatch my daughter at such a young age. >> reporter: her classmates released pink balloons, her favorite color, into a crystal blue sky. >> i'm hurt, but i'm happy she in a better place. >> i'm going to try to get through the day. take it one step at a time. >> reporter: they remembered her spirit, her joy for life, her dedication to the school rotc and then on the track field where she collapsed and died they wept. so hard for adults to understand this. how do teenagers understand

this? >> it's very difficult and that's why we just have to say we never know what's going to happen. so we have to just live our lives the best we, can treat each other with love and respect and dignity because that's what tekau did. >> reporter: the 17-year-old was in excellent shape. she played volleyball in addition to her rotc training. >> you may have your youth, but longevity on the planet is not promised. so it would be wise to try and be a productive person as you can. >> reporter: tekau was a straight a student. she planned to attend the air force academy. her dad tells me that she loved the military drills. she would actually come running into the house and yell at her family are you motivated yet? she had that effect on people. but no more. in clinton, maryland, bruce leshan, 9 news now. >> apologies for mispronouncing tekau's name earlier. counselors will be available at the clinton campus through the rest of the week for parents and students and staff who are

still grieving. tonight new questions about what happened the night trayvon martin was killed. the unarmed teenager shot last month by a neighborhood watch volunteer named george zimmerman in sanford, florida, surveillance video from the sanford police department shows zimmerman handcuffed and in custody that same night. zimmerman's lawyer says his client acted in self-defense because he was attacked by the teenager and had his nose broken, but the attorney for the martin family says the video shows no evidence of that. >> thank god for surveillance video because obviously there was a conspiracy to cover up the truth and sweep trayvon martin's death under the rug. >> now according to the police report, officers did note that zimmerman acinose was bloody and after interviewing him -- zimmerman's nose was bloody and after interviewing him authorities let him go. maryland's governor martin o'malley officially endorsed

rob garagiola today competing for the party's nomination tuesday in the 6th congressional district race. delaney's won endorsements from former president bill clinton among others. democrats vying for that congressional seat held by republican roscoe bartlett. redistricting made the race competitive for the first time in 20 years. will youth be served? during next tuesday's primary voting for the members of the prince george's county school board. a 20-year-old and two teenagers are among those in the running. >> reporter: if you think this isn't serious, let me remind you that one of these young candidates is already an incumbent. they are three very impressive young people. they are diverse, smart and all products of the prince george's county public school system. >> it is early voting time. >> reporter: rajila ahmed, an 18-year-old at university of maryland who graduated roosevelt high in greenbelt last year, david murray, 20, a

sophomore at university of maryland baltimore county also from roosevelt high. >> my name said ward burroughs. i'm running for the board of education of. >> reporter: and the incumbent, 19, edward burroughs, iii, a umbc student who has already served a term on the school board after graduating crossland high school. >> my signature vote is when i was the only member to vote on the budget. the budget cut 1,300 positions, increased class sizes, cut reduced programs like reading recovery. >> i want to look at the budget. we have a $1.6 billion budget and i don't think too many people have a good grasp of where it's going. i want to see money is going where it can be most effective. i want to see an external audit of the school system budget, something that the current school board has been very opposed to. >> my no. 1 thing is communication. i personally feel like as a board member, it would be my responsibility to go out and communicate with the different groups and organizations in the community. >> reporter: they are all campaigning hard in their respective districts. >> i'm running for the board of

education. >> reporter: and they routinely surprise voters. >> i'm 20. i turned 20 a couple days ago. >> well, congratulations. >> thank you. >> reporter: each of these young candidates represents a different district, so they're not running against each other and it's possible they could all win. if that happened, three of the eight board of education members here in prince george's county would still be students themselves. in oxon hill, scott broom, 9 news now. >> now the early primary voting is already underway and the polls will be open in maryland next tuesday, april 3rd from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. it is an addition problem a lot of students are slowly falling in love with this year, though the same probably could not be said a few months ago. less snow equals less school. at least nine of the snowest u.s. cities received less than 60% of their average snowfall this year and that has left an unusually high number of leftover emergency weather days. so many schools are letting students out of school early this year, not so much around

here, though. only fair fact county says it's considering the move. the board will meet next month to decide the issue. >> top, speaking of no snow, we got a little cooler weather coming our way. >> we do. put jacobs on just to kind of get folkston -- a jacket on just to let folks know it's going to cool down a bit. there are freeze warnings in effect once you cross the border into pennsylvania, adams county and also cumberland, petersburg and oakland and into the valley, don't see huge problems with that. the atmosphere is not as dry as earlier in the week. 59 downtown still, 55 in gaithersburg, 55 in frederick, 61 in manassas and 66 in fredericksburg. for tonight clear skies, colder, winds diminish. low temperatures 34 to 44, winds becoming northwest at 10. there's a cold front. it will approach the metro area in time for the weekend.

we'll tell you which weekend day will be better than the other. coming up on 9 news now big time blues at the big blue box retailer best buy, details straight ahead. >> plus lottery lesson, with the mega million jackpot in record breaking territory we'll have a story of a group that pooled its resources and scored pretty big.

not the best of times at old best buy. the company is closing 50 of

its big box stores by the end of this year. that announcement comes after best buy reported it lost $1.7 billion in the last quarter. shoppers just aren't flocking to the big box stores for their televisions, cameras and video game consoles the way they used to. now all those sales of tablet computers, smartphones and e readers have gone up, but the company will concentrate on expanding its smaller best buy mobile stores in the future. there's still time left if you want to be a player in the mega millions lottery game, the jackpot up to a record $540 million. if you don't mind sharing the wealth, maybe an office pool is the way to go. matt jablow with the story of one that really paid off. >> anybody want to do desserts, coffee? >> reporter: william alvarez has been a wait irat bobby van's steakhouse in down -- a waiter at bobby van's steakhouse in downtown washington for five years. he says working here has always been enjoyable but never more

so than the past six days. >> we joke around, a little more jovial. >> reporter: you see, william and 13 co-workers including the restaurant's general manager jon simkins pooled their resources, bought a few lottery tickets and won $10,000 in last friday's mega millions drawing. >> i found out about 5:00 saturday they call med here from the restaurant. i thought -- called me here from the restaurant. i thought they were joking. >> reporter: at risk of seeming greedy, they're now hoping for an even bigger prize, in fact, the largest prize in american lottery history. >> i hope lightning strikes twice. >> reporter: $540 million counting. >> i think we have a better chance because last time we put $5 in and this time we each put $20. >> reporter: simkins and his co-workers aren't the only ones fantasizing today about becoming multi-millionaires when the mega millions numbers are called out tomorrow night. >> it's been busy. >> reporter: retail stores across the country including

calvert's on river road in bethesda have been churning out tickets for several days now and will no doubt be churning out lots more until the deadline at midnight tomorrow night. the folks say they've seen people buying lottery tickets they barely see, doctors, lawyers, even one high profile meteorologist, our very own topper shutt who was here earlier today. >> you say you want all your money now? you can opt for the lump sum, 389 million bucks before taxes. >> topper shutt has your forecast just ahead. >> plus our weird news is a little buzzy tonight. we'll tell you about a texas farmer who set up a unique sting operation.

i'm starting to worry we're falling into that pattern where the week is really nice and great sunshine and the weekend comes and it gets a little funky. >> yeah, a little funky, nothing crazy. the better of the two days does appear to be sunday if you're making plans, put i think you can sneak in a -- but i think you can sneak in a round of golf saturday, too. crystal clear now, gorgeous, winds are died down, live weather cam brought to you by michael and son, temperatures in upper 50s downtown, looking at dew points falling a bit, 33. we'll watch that tonight. i'm not concerned about any

kind of frost or freeze in the metro area, winds north, northwest at 12, pressure rising. mid-50s, 54 in gaithersburg, 58 in rockville, 57 ins about, do upper 50s in great falls and reston, -- 57 in bethesda, upper 50s in great falls and reston, 58 at andrews. here's the deal. we're looking at marchlike weather, but that's okay. average weather this time of year is okay. colder tonight, yes, but no frost or freeze for the metro. nice tomorrow, a few clouds coming in late, but it stays dry and cool and unsettled saturday, but it's not going to rain continuously. in fact, we'll probably even see breaks in the cloud cover. clear skies tonight colder, winds diminish, 34 to 44, winds will become northwest at about 10. so everybody in the 30s outside the beltway, but around arlington and springfield, you'll be in the low 40s tonight, 37 in gaithersburg, 38 rockville and college park. so nobody on this map close to

freezing tonight. even 42 down at waldorf, 38 reston and fairfax and 37 in sterling and maybe mid-30s in leesburg and manassas, but still no problems with frost in the metro. tomorrow morning mostly sunny with a chilly start. you need a jacket still, temperatures in the 30s and 40s to start, light wind, good news. we won't have the winds we had today. so it will feel a little milder even though it's the same temperature. partly cloudy and pleasant with some clouds coming in late, highs between 60 and 65, winds turning but remain light, southeasterly at about 10. so let's break it down. a little chilly to start, 36 to 44, generally clear. 57 to 62 by noon, partly cloudy, pretty nice by evening. a few clouds come in late but still 59 to 64, cannot really complain about that. next three days, well, unsettled on saturday, kind of cool, low 60s, nice on sunday, some clouds coming in late, maybe a shower late, high temperatures in the low 70s and really the bulk of the day will

be fine. next seven days gets even nicer monday and tuesday, low 70s monday. we now have the warmer day on tuesday. when he it on monday yesterday, upper 70s -- we had it on monday yesterday, upper 70s. cooler, upper 50s next thursday. >> we thank you. let us get to our weird news file tonight because turns out guard dogs just weren't getting it done at this particular place. so a texas farmer came up with an unusual solution to fight crime, guard bees. organic farmer gus nowara was tired of thieves raiding his property for scrap metal, so he called in a bee wrangler to help him with a sting operation. >> the movement of the metal, the bees detect that and it agitates them. so they're going to come out and maybe the guy will run or he's going to get stung. >> there you go. here's the problem. these bees do not come with warning labels and the farmer is learning that there is a bit of a downside to having guard

bees. he says he's already been stung nearly 60 times. so that better be some valuable scrap metal, my friend, because maybe not worth it otherwise. >> not a good plan. >> we want to hear when you. this send your e-mails to mcginty's mailbag, the address mailbag at wusa9.com. 9 news now will be right back.

our mailbag tonight the continuing disturbing saga of trayvon martin. we now add the name of congressman bobby rush to our tale as he wore a hoodie as a sign of protest while speaking out on the house floor yesterday. now this, of course, violated the house rules and he was removed, but not before he sparked a lot of conversation, much of it on our wusa9 facebook passenger. steven calls the protest juvenile and unprofessional conduct. public officials need to listen, observe and take action, not mimic and put on a

floor show. get a grip, congressman, but rombai was a tad more charitable. i believe this congressman has the right to stand up for what he believes in. i don't see how that's childish at all. i'll tell you what's childish or unbecoming of an elect owed fish, how about a childlike out- - elected official, how about a child like outburst during a presidential address. it's okay for him, though, right? and then there's ben. such a circus this has become. where was congressman bobby rush's outrage after last week's shooting in his hometown of chicago that claimed 10 lives and wounded 40 others? congressman, where was your outrage over 6-year-old alia shell gunned down saturday while playing in front of her home in the little village neighborhood in your hometown. where were these civil rights leaders when the bullets were flying and kids were dieing in chicago? it is time to stop the shameless attention grabbing and race baiting. well said, ben, and perhaps you are right, but it is nowhere near time to stop sending your

e-mails to mcginty's mailbag. please don't forget your name and where you're writing from. that is our report. i'll be right back here tonight at 11:00 alongside anita brikman. don't forget. you can log on any time you like to www.wusa9.com. you have a great evening. we'll see you a bit later. bye bye.

now, "entertainment tonight," the most watched entertainment newsmagazine in the world. is this heidi klum's new man? the exclusive shots. >> feeding her spoon fulls. flirting. who is this mystery man? has heidi moved on since her split with seal? new eva longoria, one-on-one with steve jones. >> what she's telling me about her love life and the "desperate housewives" trial. titanic, the incredible underwater footage that you have never seen. >> look at that. unbelievable. director james cameron takes us a "csi" approach on covering new clues on the world's most famous ship wreck. >> it would look