three sexual assaults committed along the 24th street corridor. >> tonight san francisco police say the streets of the mission district are safer. good evening. i'm dan ashley. carolyn johnson has the night off. a man wanted for several sexual assaults among other crimes is now under arrest. thomas roman is live with the story. thomas? >> the 32-year-old san francisco resident the police arrest said being charged with four felony counts including sexual assault robbery and kid p thating. -- kidnapping. they began on 24th and potrero. and san francisco police say women in the area can now breathe a little easier. people especially women in the fair oaks area or who cross through the area daily are relieved that the man wanted in three brutal sexual

assaults in the area has been caught. >> i am extremely happy that he was caught. it is such a quiet, very quiet, nice street. >> it is a sigh of relief. it is unnerving to know that there is somebody out there and it is great. >> they are happy, but still cautious. >> good news. >> going to change your behavior a bit? >> probably not. there is always the possibility there is somebody else. >> members of the special victims unit says the arrest of the man sought in connection with three sexual assaults, robberies and kidnappings today is seen here on the surveillance video supplied by police. two attacks occurred here on fair oaks. >> he is responsible for three sexual assaults committed along the 24-street corridor. he would be booked into the san francisco county jail this evening on multiple felony sexual assault, robbery and

kidnapping charges. >> the victims were all attacked in the early morning hours. police say all were petite women and range in age from 20 to 50. the officers say members of the new special victims unit that include officers from 11 different disciplines help put this case together. dna and a tip helped them make the arrest. >> there was some characteristics on this case that were a little unusual and that narrowed down our suspect pool, and it made us focus on a certain type of suspect. and we were lucky to have the fbi in on this case. >> the attack started in june and the most recent december 8th. scott wiener in choose -- whose district it occurred say they are on edge. >> the people in the neighborhood were extremely concerned and fearful that this rape had happened on their street, right on the sidewalk. >> the san francisco police aren't releasing the name nor releasing the photo of the

32-year-old african-american. they say they won't do that until they talked to all of the witnesses and their investigation is complete. live in san francisco, thomas roman, abc7 news. >> thomas, thanks very much. he will be sworn in as san francisco's sheriff on sunday, but tonight the newly-elected law man is in the news for a very different reason. police are investigating the former city supervisor and now sheriff elect over an allegation of domestic violence. ama dates is live with more. >> reporter: sfpd say they have conducted an investigation into the sheriff-elect, and the case is with the district attorney and they have to decide if there should be charges filed. this photo of the sheriff elect and his wife shows what appears to be a loving couple. but a police investigation into him suggests otherwise. it is a case now in the hands of the district attorney. >> we will do so as we will do with any other case involving

domestic violence. >> reporter: the domestic violence accusation comes from one of the neighbors who we tried to talk to tonight. the same story. a neighbor said she spoke to his wife and asked her to video videotape a bruise. and it also indicates the neighbor said she had a text message conversation with the victim about the incident, her injuries, how the injuries were caused and who caused the injuries. but a spokesman for his wife quotes her as saying what is happening here is wrong. i have absolutely no complaint against my husband. my husband has never been abusive to me. ross and i are committed to our marriage, our son and our family. >> probably the most frequent problem in domestic violence prosecutions is the victim doesn't want to testify. >> legal analyst dean johnson says such cases can be won without the victim's testimony. >> frankly i have seen cases filed. i have seen cases tried and

the jury verdict successfully on weaker evidence. >> the affidavit does show police seized the neighbor's video camera scpi phone. possible evidence if the d.a. decides to go to trial. and if he is charged, he has a lot to lose. >> there are a number of provisions that prevent people who have been convicted of felonies from holding public office. it is usually one of the normal incidents of the sentence in a felony. >> johnson also says one of the most problematic things he could face is if a peace officer is convicted even of a misdemeanor charge because he can no longer carry a fire rm a. a peace officer who can't carry a firearm is pretty useless. in the newsroom, ama dates, abc news. >> thank you. the assembly woman pleaded no contest today to stealing leather pants and other goods from the san francisco knee men marcus store. he was arrested in october after surveillance cameras

showed her walking out of the store with unpaid merchandise. she was accused of stealing nearly $2500 worth of clothing after reducing the charge to a misdemeanor, the judge sentenced her to three years probation and $180 in fines. she would not answer our questions about a motive, but her lawyer says a medical condition may have impaired her judgment. >> she has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. however, fortunately for her, it is benign, and it can be taken care of and addressed with medication, which is exactly what is >> after the sentencing a spokesman confirmed the brain tumor, but she is not using that as an excuse. she has been ordered to stay at least 50 feet away from nieman marcus. hundreds gathered in oakland to remember a five-year-old boy shot and killed a week ago tonight. gabriel martinez was killed standing outside his father's food truck on international boulevard. today family and friends, even strangers gathered at saint

elizabeth's church for a memorial service for this five-year-old child. >> every time he came to my house to make me laugh. > he didn't know you. if he didn't know you, he would say, hi, i'm gabriel. come and play with me. >> congresswoman barbara leigh and jean quan were among the mourners. police still do not have a motive, but the little boy was most likely not the target. gabriel was the third child to be killed in oakland in the past five months. the owner of san francisco's historic gold dust lounge is facing eviction. he says his landlord wants to take over the bar space as part of a building development for a chicago-based clothing company. even though there is still three years left on his lease, he has received three months notice can selling his lease. he plans to appeal to city hall to try to save the union square watering hole that opened in 1933.

>> -- you might think it feels like are ma of or april outside, and so do the fruit trees that have started to bloom during our spring-like january. this winter's warm weather could hurt many fruit trees, especially if the rain comes when they start to bloom. but this is not the first time something like this has happened in the bay area. >> this happens around here not that infrequently. this year i am hearing of some that have finished blooming. that is unusual. what will come of that, i am not exactly sure. but hofully they get their food earlier. >> tree experts say there is nothing you can do to stop or delay the blooming process once it starts. and it is not going to stop anytime soon with the weather we are having. meteorologist sandhya patel will be along in a few minutes to let us know about the warmth and whether there is any chance of rain in the seven-day forecast. stay tuned for that. the city of oakland is getting the nod as one of the best places to go in 2012.

oakland came in fifth on the "new york times" list of the 45 best places to go in twenty 12. oakland -- 2012. they finished behind panama, finland and london where the soiks will take place. they cited the growing nightlife scene and tensions calming down after recent clashes involving the occupy movement. governor brown and the former oaknd la mayor tweeted that oakland should have been number one on that list, he says. well, coming up next, an extraordinary rescue at sea. how some american sailors held some iranian pilots. and a new drop in the nation's unemployment rate the latest on that. and new gps technology. why some are calling it the avoid the ghetto feature. all of that is coming up for you. and then late other "nightline." >> i'm terry moran. up next on "nightline" she

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a group of iranian fishermen is very grateful thanking the u.s. sailors who rescued them from a babdz of -- band of pirates. but official tehran is not expected to express gratitude. their -- they warned to keep warships out of the gulf. the fishermen said they were held hostage by the somali pirates for more than 40 days. the uss kid answered their call for help. the fishermen left their american rescuers wearing baseball caps from the uss kid. well, this week two americans died in the war in afghanistan. petty officer first class chad regila nd. the 24-year-old from california died in afghanistan. and army specialist purnel died. the 33-year-old was from new mexico. some encouraging news

tonight about unemployment in america. the nation's jobless rate stands at 8.5%, down 2 percentage points from november. the labor department reports additional good news. the average workweek increased meaning employees will take home bigger paychecks. president obama admits there is more work to do while challenging the congressional republicans to exend it a series of tax cuts for the middle class. >> there are a lot of strugglesthat people are going throughout there and a lot of families are having a tough time and a lot of small businesses are still having a tough time, but we are starting to rebound. we are moving in the right direction. we have made real progress. now is not the time to stop. >> some political experts believe the improving numbers can help with the re-election chances in november, but his gop challengers see it differently. >> i am glad it is doing a little better now. i am sure the president will want to take credit for any improvement. guess what, he doesn't deserve it. everything that's been done has hurt this economy's

recovery. everything done by this president. >> despite the optimism, the economists warn of potential dangers ahead including the potential crisis in europe. jon huntsman says a new on-line ad targeting his adopted daughters is out of line. the ad sponsored by supporters of rival, ron paul, shows the two girls adopted from china and india and labels huntsman unamerican for speaking mandarin and shows a caricature of him and asks whether huntsman is a man -- manturian candidate. he says it is stupid. >> i speak chinese, of course. if somebody wants to poke fun for speaking chinese, that's okay. what i be on to is bringing forward pictures and videos of my adopted daughters and suggesting there is some sinister motive there. >> ron paul's campaign says it doesn't know who is behind the ad, but he says it is utterly distaste distasteful. huntsman and ron paul are

fighting for second place in new hampshire behind mitt romney. and don't forget the candidates will debate in new hampshire this weekend. the only place you can see it live is on abc7 on saturday night at 6:00. of course the new hampshire primary is a couple days later on tuesday. microsoft has patented a gps feature that helps users avoid dangerous places. it is dubbed avoid the ghetto. it takes into account unsafe neighborhoods and bad weather and dangerous terrain. it has been created especially for the mobile phones with gps technology. but there are fears that avoid the ghetto could penalize poor neighborhoods. >> people don't want to get shot or carjacked. it has nothing to do with dising poor people. it has to do with staying alive. a lot of what is going into cars has a lot to do with staying alive. it makes a lot of the technology work, and it is what allows people to justify paying for it. >> it works in realtime, so it gives users up to the minute information. microsoft will likely implement the new settings into the windows phones

developed by htc, samsung, lg and nokia's new loomia800. the weekend has arrived and sandhya patel is tracking the weekend weather for us. >> hi, dan. and all we will see is blue skies and warmer weather. speaking of blue skies, it is a beautiful day at ocean beach in san francisco. the waves were up along the coastline. we had a high surf advisory earlier burkts that was dropped. the waves are running between 12 and 15 feet. the high surf pounds the southern california coast where they are still under a high surf advisory. look at this time lapse. the high clouds moving in and it gave us the colorful sunset. i want to pose a question on facebook. i want to know what you had to say. i want you to see what people had to say. yes, i miss the rain and we

need it. kimmy c says i miss the sound of the rain on the patio deck. seth a, yes, triple exclamation mark. as we look at some other ones, kevin a, no, don't miss it at all. yeah, a little and well ton, i do, and it will return soon enough. and he may be right on that one. look at the extended computer models. one of them wants to bring in rain as early as january 13th on a sunday afternoon. here is what it looks like right now. the temperatures are in the 30s in the north bay valleys, and we are seeing patches of fog. 40s across the rest of the bay area except san francisco is up 50 degrees. chilly in the valley, sunny and milder this weekend. and it is still dry into next week. beyond that, we will see what happens. shear look at the pacific satellite picture. area of high pressure, really this ridge is building in for the weekend, and as this ridge

builds, we will see the wind switching around. the cool down will be reversed by the high pressure ridge building. it is blowing down toward the ocean. and that will warm up the bay area. it is a down sloping wind. but this means more northeasterly winds creating breezy conditions. 25 to 35 miles an hour. it lowers the humidity and with dry fuels we are letting you know there could be fire and weather concerns. the only fire weather watch is for the sierra nevada. overnight readings, cold certainly. santa rosa toward fairfield and livermore 39 degrees in san jose. and patchy fog to start off the morning. mainly in the north bay. a sunny afternoon though and certainly warmer. mid60s for santa rosa and napa. 65 degrees for you in palo alto. 64 fremont, concord, antioch, san jose, around the monterey bay, look for sunshine and it

is from 65 in monterey up to 68 in watsonville. it is a mild weekend, a breezy one. the temperatures approaching 70 degrees on sunday enjoy the spring-like warmth and it will cool off a little next week. tuesday a system comes down. it will cool us off and bring us more clouds. but the temperatures just bounce back, and there is no rain, at least not through friday on the accu-weather seven-day forecast. but like i said, it is one of the extended computer models, january 15th may be a switch in our pattern here. >> it has been a long pattern. >> it has been a long, dry pattern. coming up next, the actress who says she cannot get work because of a website that revealed her age. stay with us. -dad, why are you getting that? -that's my cereal.

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to remember cecil pond. he didn't like mowing the lond and made a career on it. he developed the riding lawn mower and made millions in a business that helped shape the post world war ii landscape in the american suburbs. cecil pond died at the age of 87. an actress who sued an internet movie database finally revealed her identity. she sued because it revealed her age. she is in fact 40 years old. she appeared in a series of b movies like "ginger dead man 3"," shat night cleaver >> "saturday night cleaver." she lost work after they posted her age. she typically portrays mid20s to early 30s. a judge throughout her first suit because she did not reveal her legal name. we have lost roles because of our lack of ability.

>> "saturday night cleaver" is a movie written. >> they were so good they made three. >> sandhya might want to be in that motion picture. the warriors take down kobe and company in l.a. gonna regret that. could their newest addition provide some juice in

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they play the lakers tonight and golden state hoping the arrival of nate robinson can provide a spark. speaking of sparks, charlize theron in the house tonight. monta ellis is forced to pick up the slack. kobe bryant had 13 in the first half. isolation fade to fire. it tie tups at 10.

he had 9 points in the first half and hangs and hits. the lethargic lakers wake up in the third and kobe to end thquarter and had 17 of his 39 in the third. lakers by 9. clay thompson had his best game of the season and knocks down the jumper from the field. the warriors' late charge and they get within three. monty to steel and yikes, one of 18 warrior turnovers. golden state loses their fourth straight 97-90. it is official now. reggie mckenzie will be the general manager and he will not have to wait until the end of the season. it is the return of the raider nation he has been a member for 19 years and worked his way up from scout to the director of operations. give credit to the new owner mark davis