Florida man steals septic tank using U-Haul truck after failed attempts caught on camera
Florida man steals septic tank using U-Haul truck after failed attempts caught on camera. The KRAK 11 News hour: The World Desk, Criminal Intent, Animals, A Quick Look At Sports. Real stories from named sources, read by Chip Marlowe and Deb Sarkissian.
Aired 2026-08-20 11:50 UTC · 5 segments · 8 min · complete transcript below
Rundown
KRAK 11 NEWS
Good evening. I am Chip Marlowe. This is KRAK 11 News, the top of every hour with the news that matters and the news you came here for.
I am Deb Sarkissian. Coming up this hour: four workers are dead after being struck by a train north of Tokyo. We have the latest from authorities on the ground.
Criminal Intent looks at a Florida man who stole a septic tank with a U-Haul truck back in March of this year. Deputies say he tried twice, and both attempts were caught on camera.
Animals has the bobcat that stopped every car on a stretch of highway. It is number five on the KRAK 11 animal countdown and climbing.
And A Quick Look at Sports covers the tech billionaires pushing back hard against a proposed wealth tax in California. A Google co-founder is leading the fight.
That is sports now.
It is a very different show than it was. Still ahead: The World Desk has the story from Japan, where four workers were killed at a station platform. We are waiting on details from authorities. That is next.
THE WORLD DESK
The World Desk.
Good evening.
We have developments tonight from four continents.
We begin with breaking news from Washington. President Trump has announced what he calls tougher economic measures against Iran and any country that provides support to the regime.
This follows the expiration of that sixty-day ceasefire we covered earlier this week.
That ceasefire ended Monday with no diplomatic or military resolution in place. The White House has not specified which countries the new measures will target or when they take effect.
We will stay on that as details develop.
In Liberia, formal charges have now been filed against the country's former vice president in what authorities are calling a major drug-trafficking and money-laundering investigation.
Jewel Howard-Taylor was arrested at the capital's international airport. She served as vice president from twenty-eighteen to twenty-twenty-two.
Howard-Taylor is the former wife of ex-President Charles Taylor, who is currently serving a fifty-year sentence for war crimes committed during Liberia's civil war.
That is in The Hague.
The International Criminal Court, yes. Howard-Taylor has not commented publicly on the charges.
And we have an update tonight on that Travelodge story we brought you earlier. The chief executive has now resigned.
Jo Boydell stepped down following criticism of the company's handling of safety and security issues. This comes after the chain announced new measures including overnight staffing and upgraded cameras.
Travelodge operates more than five hundred hotels across the United Kingdom and Ireland.
The company has not named an interim chief executive. A spokesperson said the board is committed to implementing the new security protocols at all locations.
And also in the United Kingdom, the Home Office has published new guidance for asylum seekers covering British law and cultural expectations.
The nine-page booklet covers issues including respect in public, sex and consent, and gender equality. It states explicitly that rape and harassment are illegal in the United Kingdom.
That seems like information people should already have.
The Home Office says the booklet is meant to ensure clarity for those unfamiliar with UK legal standards. It will be distributed to all asylum seekers entering the country.
And in Japan, authorities are investigating after four railway workers were killed during track maintenance work.
The men were struck by a train at Shin-Kanuma Station north of Tokyo early this morning local time. Investigators are reviewing maintenance protocols and communication between crews and train operators.
Rail officials say the station was closed at the time of the accident and no passengers were involved.
That is the World Desk.
If you are watching on YouTube, do subscribe. It genuinely helps a station our size.
It costs you nothing and it means a great deal to us.
Still ahead tonight on KRAK 11 News, Criminal Intent. We have new developments in a Wexler County case that has been under investigation for more than fourteen months.
The sheriff's office will brief reporters tomorrow morning. We will have that for you at six.
That is next.
CRIMINAL INTENT
Good evening. This is Criminal Intent, the KRAK 11 Blotter.
We have four stories tonight, and three of them involve transportation choices that were, at best, optimistic.
The fourth involves socks.
We begin tonight at Tokyo's international airport, where customs officers made what they are calling a discovery unprecedented in scale and packaging creativity.
Authorities say a man arriving from Thailand was detained after officers discovered approximately two hundred live lizards concealed inside twenty-two pairs of socks in his suitcase.
Two hundred lizards. Twenty-two pairs of socks. That is approximately nine lizards per sock, which suggests either meticulous planning or a deeply flawed understanding of volume.
Police say the suspect has been arrested and charged with wildlife smuggling violations.
We continue now with a tribute KRAK 11 has been running for fifteen consecutive weeks. This is Florida Man, the ongoing series where we honor the strange genius of one state's contribution to the criminal record.
Tonight's tribute comes from Marion County, back in March of this year, where deputies say a man made two separate attempts to steal a septic tank using a U-Haul truck.
Surveillance footage captured both attempts. Prosecutors say the suspect returned to the same location in Dunnellon on consecutive nights, each time attempting to load a concrete septic tank weighing several hundred pounds into the back of a rental truck.
Deputies say on the second attempt, he succeeded.
Persistence is not always a virtue, but it is always remarkable. The suspect was later arrested and charged with grand theft and other construction site violations.
Prosecutors allege, Chip.
Prosecutors allege. Thank you, Deb.
Also from this spring, Maryland state troopers in June responded to reports of an emu blocking traffic on a highway outside Frederick. What followed was a three-hour pursuit involving multiple agencies, several failed capture attempts, and one very determined bird.
Authorities say the emu dodged capture multiple times, was struck by a vehicle and kept running, and led officers across several miles of rural highway before finally being contained.
The emu survived, was examined by a veterinarian, and was returned to its owner. No officers were injured. Traffic resumed within the hour.
That is fifteen Florida Man Tributes in fifteen weeks.
I updated the whiteboard this morning.
And coming up in just a few minutes, the animal countdown continues, and this week's number four video involves an animal most people have never heard of and will never forget.
That is ANIMALS, next on KRAK 11 News.
ANIMALS
Time now for Animals.
We have a bobcat this hour who has decided he works for the Department of Transportation.
He is very serious about it.
He is conducting traffic on a mountain road in Colorado like he has a clipboard and a vest and he is being paid by the hour.
Number five on the KRAK 11 animal countdown. The video has gained 695,915 views in the last eighteen hours.
He is standing in the middle of the road stopping each vehicle that comes through, one at a time, looking directly at the drivers.
Not walking around them. Making them wait until he is ready to let them pass.
Then he positions himself for the next one. It is extremely deliberate behavior.
Posted in August. Nearly six million total views now. Up one spot since the last count.
That is a wild animal doing a better job than some of the flaggers I have seen on Route 40.
That is a professional at work.
He really is.
Coming up in just a few minutes, A Quick Look at Sports, and the Cubs have done something that has not happened in a hundred and eight years of trying.
That is next on KRAK 11 News.
A QUICK LOOK AT SPORTS
A Quick Look at Sports.
You have been checking scores since before sunrise.
The news does not sleep, Deb.
The Yankees beat the Red Sox seven to four at Fenway. Aaron Judge hit two home runs including the go-ahead shot in the eighth inning.
The Dodgers took down the Padres three to one. Clayton Kershaw pitched seven shutout innings in his return from the injured list.
Magnus Carlsen defended his chess title at the twenty-twenty-six Esports World Cup in Saudi Arabia. He beat challenger Hikaru Nakamura four games to two.
You are pleased about that.
The man is undoubtedly the greatest of all time.
The next KRAK 11 News starts at the top of the hour. Chip has been here since five this morning and he will tell you why.
We will see you in a few minutes.
Reporting behind this episode
- Four workers dead after being hit by train in Japan
- Former Liberian vice-president charged in drug-trafficking probe
- Travelodge boss resigns as chain tackles security after sex assault at hotel
- Trump vows tougher economic measures on Iran and supporting countries
- Asylum seekers told rape and harassment illegal in UK in new Home Office booklet
- Florida man steals septic tank using U-Haul truck after failed attempts caught on camera, deputies say
- Emu causes traffic back-up, hours-long pursuit on Maryland highway
- Man busted after customs uncovers bizarre cargo hidden inside 22 pairs of socks
- This Bobcat Was Stopping Every Car
- This Bobcat Was Stopping Every Car
- This Bobcat Was Stopping Every Car
- This Bobcat Was Stopping Every Car
- This Bobcat Was Stopping Every Car
- Tech billionaires push back against proposed wealth tax in California