john vigna was convicted back in june. it was an emotional hearing, victim's parents calling him a soul murder. several cried as five people praised vigna as a man and a teacher. >>> a woman in southeast dc attack while walking her neighbor's dog. she said it happened yesterday in the 5300 block of 5th street. after the attack, two women stole the dog. she tells us she got a black eye and busted lip but should be ok. >>> the white house said it's time to ended leaks, robert mueller has empanelled a grand jury. the justice department just noun investigations into the leaking of sensitive government information by the intelligence community. this comes after the president publicly criticized attorney general jeff sessions for not making leak as priority >>> former president barack obama is celebrating 56th birthday today, the first since leaving office in january. the obamas are reportedly returning to their favorite vacation spot in martha's vinyard this weekend to celebrate. >>> researcher may have figured out why people ha

we will remain vigna strong. >> reporter: just a few minutes ago, the state's attorney for montgomery county john mccarthy say. >> every person who has a child in montgomery county public school wants that child to be safe and wonderful and i'm sure that mr. vigna was kind and nice to many of his students. he alongside was improper with at least four after having been represented very well at trial. tried fairly and members of your community selected at random sat in judgment after five days and convicted him of these counts. . >> reporter: john vigna wiped tears many times as the hearing went on but as one of these parents looked him in the eye, said to him, your nightmares are just about to begin. paul wagner fox 5 local news. >>> the montgomery county teenager accused and cleared of sexu a that garnered national attention at rockville high school pleaded guilty to less series crime. jose admitted to possessing a lewd photo of a minor, earlier this year, he and another 18-year-old were excused of raping a 14-year-old in a bathroom at rockville high. defense attorneys insisted it was consensual

the parents of one of john vigna's victims say the school knew about the abuse and failed to stop him. the school district will not comment on this. prince george's county public schools has a new education board. dr. donna weissman will replace dr. beverly anderson who resigned last month. jonathan: a big change is coming to the commuters on 395. transportation reporter brianne carter shows us the the interstate. brianne: designed to ease congestion and commutes. eight miles of toll lanes will soon be up and running in northern virginia. wednesday morning governor mcauliffe and others officially broke ground on the new express lanes along 395. the project will change the two h.o.v. lanes now designed for carpoolers to three express toll lanes. the lanes will operate just like the tolls along 95 but 15 million collected annually from this stretch will go toward other transportation improvements. including new buses and the bridge rehabilitation. >> 395 express lanes project will benefit the military, civilian and the contract employees. who work at and near pentagon. brianne: it is al

former cloverly elementary teacher john vigna was sentenced to 48 years prison friday. he was convicted of sexually molesting four third grade girls. now - the family of one of those girls is suing the school district. their attorney tells abc7 news they will announce the lawsuit later today. the school district will not comment. this morning, we're getting an update on the condition of d-c firefighter dane smothers. the 28-year-old was critically injured a week ago when a ladder truck hit him at the scene of a fire. his family members and fellow firefighters will be holding a news conference at 10:30 this morning. it was a case of mistaken identity- that got a local football player kicked off the cowboys! the upda look -- police say deyvon newman on the left is the guy who told officers he was lucky whitehead! when in trouble for shoplifting -- newman gave police all of whitehead's information, even his social security number! when newman didn't show up for court, a warrant was issued for whitehead and he was fired from the cowboys. police are looking for newman, who n

. >> meanwhile today former cloverly elementary school teacher john vigna was sentenced to 48 years in prison for sex abuse of multiple little girls. it was emotional day in montgomery county courtroom. both victims and his sup supporters were in court and they all had the chance to speak after the hearing. >> he is not a groomer nor predator. he has been wrongfully convicted. we will continue to fight until he is vindicated and justice is served. >> that's a very sad case because i'm sure there that every person who has a child in montgomery count school wants that child to be safe. wants every child to be wonderful. i'm sure mr. vigna was kind and nice to many students but he also acted improperly with at least four that he thousand stands convicted of after having been represented very, very well at trial, tried fairly and members of your community selected at random sat and judgment after five days and convicted him of these counts. >> vixt gna taught third, fourth and fifth grade over the course of 20 years and was convicted in june. >> and to follow up on a deadly shoot into nort

new lawsuit following a sexual abuse scandal days after former cloverly elementary schoolteacher john vigna was sentenced to 48 years in prison tour sexually abusing multiple little girls. vigna taught third, fourth and fifth grades over the course of 20 years. the lawsuit against the school district was filed by a lawyer on behalf of one of those victims. he says there were several red flags that vigna was not safe. >> still ahead, president trump not giving up on his efforts for a overhaul. his new message to fellow republicans. >> and the war of words between president trump and north korea continues to simmer. how the communist country responded to the president's threats. >> and caught on camera. mayhem at a maryland mall. what led to this fight between an employee and a shopper. sue. >> hey, tony, shawn doesn't feel like a summer like. kind of feels like football weather. battle of the beltways, the preseason version. might be a passing brief sprinkle but temps really comfortable for this time of year and rain is in the forecast for friday and part of the weekend. we have been able to

this comes just days after former cloverly elementary schoolteacher john vigna was sentenced to 48 years sexually abusing multiple little girls em thought third, fourth and fifth grade over the course of 20 years. the lawsuit against the school district was filed by a lawyer on behalf of one of the victims. >> we're following a developing story from the district. d.c. police released this incredible video of a shooting between two men in southeast. a woman holding a baby ran for cover after nearly getting caught in the crossfire. she fell down once but she got up and kept going. the shooting happened last week in the 3600 block of 22nd street. one man was shot. he's expected to recover. >> two teenagers who aren't even old enough to drive are charged in the murder of a homeless man at a park in adelphi. police say 14-year-old elias portillo and a 13-year-old boy approached francisco sagastizado and demanded cash. allegedly stabbed him several times. the 13-year-old is charged as a juvenile. >> plans to build a natural gas pipeline under the potomac river in western maryland is drawing co

. >>> to montgomery county where a former cloverly elementary school john vigna was sentenced to 48 yearsprison for the sexual abuse of multiple little girls. vigna taught third, fourth and fifth grades over the course of 20 years there. he was convicted back in june and it was a very emotional day in court. both victims and vigna's supporters were there. >>> the teen accused of cleared of sex assault charges pleaded guilty to possessing a lewd photo of a minor on his phone. they were accused of raping a 14-year-old girl in the school bathroom. prosecutors later determined there was not enough evidence to support the initial allegations. >>> metro transit police looking for a man who is accused of sexual abuse and taking upskirt pictures. police believe a number of the victims were unaware that they were even targeted. a woman reported that while riding the escalator to exit the columbia heights metro station, she felt someone's hand up her skirt. this happened wednesday night around 7:30. investigators say the incident was caught on surveillance video and this video also shows the suspec

. >> documents that are reprimands for john vigna. i am opening up my discovery and i intend to seek documents for all teachers in the last five to ten years that have had reprimands. i am concerned there is a pattern of this going on through the school system where the teachers like vigna are left in the classroom with the children. nathan: the family is suing under a title ix case. so there is no cap to the amount of money they can sue for. we talk to the montgomery county schools. they have no comment on the pending litigation. reporting live in rockville, nathan baca, abc7 news. nancy: thank you. also new tonight, new developments of a former d.c. police officer accused of paying a teen for he used social media and offered to pay for sex. he could face life in prison. larry: they are 13 and 14 and killed a man after asking for money and then killing a man when he didn't have it. brad bell has more. brad: this happened at a park where tonight you can see the people are here practicing cricket. a park where children play. in fact, i

. >> documents that are reprimands for john vigna. i am opening up my discovery and i intend to seek documents for all teachers in the last five to ten years that have had reprimands. i am concerned there is a pattern of this going on through the school system where the teachers like vigna are left in the classroom with the children. nathan: the family is suing under a title ix case. so there is no cap to the amount of money they can sue for. we talk to the montgomery county schools. they have no comment on the pending litigation. reporting live in rockville, nathan baca, abc7 news. nancy: thank you. also new tonight, new developments of a former d.c. police officer accused of paying a teen for

but a judge says that john vigna is the destroyer of children's souls. he was a long of time teacher, elementary school teacher at cloverly elementary school. he was convicted in june for sexually abusing four girls. they were in third grade at the time. he made a last-minute plea for leniency asking to take his life experience as a teacher, coach, father into account. judge could have sentenced him to 80 years in prison. unstead he was sentenced to 48 years in. >> he has been wrongly convicted. >> some of the kids are having emotionally hard times. really emotionally hard times. a tough time sleeping. , is about suicide -- issues about suicide. >> one of the fathers of the victims pointed his finger at vigna blaming him for troubles that his daughter was going through. it was very emotional in court. reporting live in rockville, nathan baca, abc7 news. alison: thank you. legal fight is brewing over a pesticide ban. the judge overturned a ban on certain pesticides on private lawns and said it was pre-empted in state law. the council is considering the op

john vigna was sentenced to 48 years in prison for sexually abusing multiple young girls.na taught third, fourth and fifth grades over the course of 20 years. that will lawsuit filed against the district was filed by a lawyer on behalf of one of the there were several red flags that vigna was not safe. >> the d.c. fire departmentally is asking for your thoughts and prayers for dayne smothers jr. the rookie firefighter who was injured on the job is still in critical condition after three surgeries and a fourth one scheduled for today. members of the department spoke on behalf of dane's family who say they have been overwhelmed by support. even fire departments from around the country have been reaching out want to help. dane's instructor says he's always wanted to be a firefighter. >> the only way i can best describe him as my quiet before the storm. very quiet reserved very intelligent and you ask him a question he just smile give you those big white teeth but when you put him out on the yard dane always performed. very proficient with everything that he did. if he didn't

this comes just days after former cloverly elementary school john vigna was sentenced to 48 years invigna taught third, fourth and fifth grades over the course of 20 years and the lawsuit was filed by a lawyer on behalf of one of the victim t he says several red flags that vigna was not safe were ignored. >> we're following a developing story from the district now. d.c. police released this incredible video of a shootout between two men in southeast. a woman holding a baby ran for cover after nearly getting caught in the crossfire. she fell once but got up and kept going. the shooting happened last week in the 3600 block of 22nd street. one man was shot. he's expected to recover. >> and two teenagers who aren't even old enough to drive are charged in the murder of a homeless man at a park in adelphi. police say 14-year-old elias portillo and a 13-year-old boy approached francisco sagastizado and demanded cash. when he refused portillo allegedly stabbed him several times. portillo is charged as an adult. the 13-year-old is charged as a juvenile. >>> we're back with what's hot on the w