Florida man accused of stealing, selling Smokey Bear signs online for $1,900 a piece
Florida man accused of stealing, selling Smokey Bear signs online for $1,900 a piece. 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 21:47 UTC · 5 segments · 7 min · complete transcript below
Rundown
KRAK 11 NEWS
Good evening, I'm Chip Marlowe.
And I'm Deb Sarkissian. This is KRAK 11 News.
Coming up this hour on KRAK 11 — THE WORLD DESK, where an Italian mayor gets hit by an electric bike and bans every single one of them from his city. CRIMINAL INTENT has this week's Florida Man Tribute. ANIMALS — the bobcat is still holding at number five. And A QUICK LOOK AT SPORTS.
That is a very quick look at sports.
It is a good show. Still ahead on THE WORLD DESK — a mayor who knows exactly what it is like to be hit by one of these beasts, and he is done with all of them.
We start in two minutes.
THE WORLD DESK
The World Desk.
Good evening. We have four stories from around the world tonight, and we are going to start in West Africa.
It is a hard one.
We begin in north-western Nigeria, where at least forty-three people are confirmed dead after a boat capsized on a river in Sokoto state this morning.
Local authorities say many of the victims are feared to be children. The boat was crossing in Sokoto state when it went down.
That is in the far northwest corner of the country, near the border with Niger Republic. Recovery efforts are still underway and the count is expected to rise.
The Treasury Secretary says the sanctions the White House announced on Iran yesterday will squash the Iranian economy and collapse the regime in Tehran.
Secretary Bessent told allied governments this morning they will need to decide whether they are with the United States or against it on enforcement.
That is very direct language.
It is. The European Union has not yet responded publicly.
Former Prime Minister Imran Khan was taken from Adiala jail to a hospital in Islamabad this morning under heavy security for medical treatment.
Khan has been in custody since August of twenty twenty-three on corruption charges. He was transferred to Shifa International Hospital early this morning. His legal team has not yet commented.
He is still in Islamabad.
He is. The capital is in the northern part of the country. Adiala jail is just outside the city limits.
I knew that.
Of course you did.
England batsman Harry Brook scored a century at Headingley in the fourth test against India and cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew says he is as talented as Gower or Pietersen but not ready to captain the side.
Agnew wrote this morning that the knock should be Brook's batting blueprint going forward. England won by an innings and forty-three runs.
Headingley is a beautiful ground. Rolling hills, right outside Manchester.
It is in Leeds.
Which is outside Manchester.
Thirty miles east of Manchester in a different county.
Yorkshire.
Yes.
I knew that.
You listen to it on the radio.
You listen to it on the radio.
I do. At work.
Which is here.
It is.
Coming up in just a few minutes, Criminal Intent. A case that took six years to build and went to trial this week in less than forty-eight hours.
You will want to stay for that.
We will be right back.
CRIMINAL INTENT
Time now for the Blotter.
We have four stories tonight from the state that keeps on giving.
And from New York, and Colorado.
Florida sets the standard. The rest of the nation is learning.
Back in July of this year, a man in the Florida Panhandle saw an opportunity. Federal forests across the state were decorated with iconic Smokey Bear signs. He allegedly decided they would look better in his garage.
Federal prosecutors say he stole the signs from state forests and sold them online for nineteen hundred dollars apiece.
Nineteen hundred dollars. For a sign telling people not to start fires. The irony is not lost on federal investigators, who have charged him with theft of government property.
He is accused, Chip. Not convicted.
Prosecutors allege. Thank you, Deb.
Also back in July, two people climbed to the top of the Empire State Building in broad daylight and unfurled a banner with a quote on it.
The quote was from Jimi Hendrix. Authorities are still investigating how they reached the observation deck with climbing equipment.
Security footage shows them scaling the exterior above the eighty-sixth floor. No injuries, no charges filed yet, and one very confused building manager.
In June of this year, two brothers in Colorado were arrested and charged with one hundred and twenty-five counts of abuse of a corpse at a funeral home they operated in Pueblo County.
Prosecutors say Brian Lee Cotter and Christopher Aaron Cotter are accused of mishandling dozens of bodies. A judge set bond at one million dollars each.
The investigation is ongoing.
And that is twenty-nine Florida Man Tributes in twenty-nine weeks.
We remain undefeated.
Coming up on KRAK 11 News - the bobcat video is still at number five on our animal countdown.
Still at number five. Day eleven. And the view count is climbing faster than those two climbed the Empire State Building.
Animals, in three minutes.
Stay with us.
ANIMALS
Now the part of the show where we tell you something good is happening in the world.
The bobcat video is still at number five.
Eleven consecutive days.
It is a very consistent bobcat.
Eleven consecutive days at number five on the KRAK 11 animal countdown. The video gained just over a million new views in the last twenty-eight hours and now has six million, one hundred and eighty-nine thousand, and twenty-five views total.
That is one million and thirty-seven thousand new views, Chip.
I have watched it eleven times now.
It is a very good bobcat.
It is.
An endangered sea turtle made a five-thousand-mile journey from Wales back to the same Texas beach where she was tagged three years ago. Researchers say they have never seen anything like it.
She swam the entire Atlantic, and she came back to the exact same beach.
That is—
That is remarkable.
It really is.
Scotland recorded its first confirmed sighting of a wildcat swimming this week in the Cairngorms National Park. Conservationists say there may be fewer than three hundred of them left in the wild.
And they did not know wildcats could swim until this week.
They can swim.
Coming up in just a few minutes on KRAK 11 News, we have A Quick Look At Sports, and Chip has thoughts about a walk-off that involved a rookie, a rule nobody remembered, and a very patient umpire.
I do have thoughts.
A QUICK LOOK AT SPORTS
A Quick Look at Sports.
It is a good night for pitching.
And a very good night for Aaron Judge.
The Yankees beat the Red Sox seven to four at Yankee Stadium. Aaron Judge hit two home runs and the Yankees extend their lead in the AL East to four and a half games.
The Dodgers shut out the Giants three to nothing. Clayton Kershaw pitched seven scoreless innings in his return from the injured list.
In college football, Ohio State opened fall camp this morning ranked number four in the Yahoo Sports preseason poll. The Buckeyes are favored to win the Big Ten and make the playoff.
That is a confident pick.
It is August. Everything is possible.
Still ahead on KRAK 11 News at the top of the hour, the latest on the FBI investigation into former Congressman Eric Swalwell, and the reaction from Washington.
That is the news for this hour. Thank you for watching. We will see you at the top of the hour.
Reporting behind this episode
- Dozens dead after boat capsizes in north-western Nigeria
- US says sanctions will 'squash' Iran's economy and 'collapse' its regime
- Jailed Pakistan ex-PM Imran Khan taken to hospital for treatment
- Brook as talented as Gower and Pietersen but not ready to be captain - Agnew
- Brothers accused of mishandling dozens of decomposing bodies at Colorado funeral home
- Empire State Building climbers display quote on banner: What does it say?
- Florida man accused of stealing, selling Smokey Bear signs online for $1,900 a piece
- 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