Meteorologist is Gone From the Station after Predator Allegations
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Yesterday, FTVLive told you that a Midwest Meteorologist was being accused of molesting teenagers and now he's out of a job.
KCCI Weather Anchor Frank Scaglione is gone from the station, his bio is gone and he has deleted all social media accounts.
FTVLIve got wind of the story over the weekend and started working on it. A number of people on social media posted allegations that Scaglione was using his social media to pursue sexual relationships with teenage boys.
Then, this weekend a kid named Daren decided to post his #MeToo story about how he claims Scaglione had an inappropriate relationship with him and manipulated him as a 16-year-old.
Others followed Daren's lead and posted how Scaglione pursued them on social media. He sent naked pictures and asked for naked pictures in return, the kids claimed.
People took to social media demanding that KCCI do something. When FTVLive posted the story yesterday, the station cut ties with Scaglione.
KCCI News Director Dave Busiek declined to answer questions about Scaglione's and would not comment on whether he was fired or left voluntarily?
Many are blaming the station for enabling Scaglione and letting him use his social media with the station's branding to help pursue young boys.
"Are you telling me that no one at the station knew what was happening?" said one person that is a friend of one of the boys to FTVLive. "So many kids knew and knew this guy was a creep, how did the station not know? they added.
Back in 2016, the Des Moines Register did a story about Scaglione and how he amassed so many teenage followers on his social media. In November of 2016, the Register wrote, "...the KCCI weatherman's followers are not moms looking for the weekend forecast or fans of storm chasing — they're teenagers.
Scaglione knows this. That's why his tweets are full of GIFs, fire emojis and abbreviations such as "rn."
"It's insane how many kids from local schools know who I am," Scaglione said. "But they don’t watch me on TV."
He guesses that most of his 8,400 followers, made up of mostly high school and college students, find him by word of mouth or by seeing retweets from their friends. About two years ago, he noticed that his audience on Twitter was younger and decided to start better tailoring his messages to them."
Now, Scaglione is gone from the station. He has deleted all his social media accounts and it appears the police are investigating him. Although, the West Des Moines would not confirm that, "West Des Moines police, said: "We will not discuss or disclose any information related to your inquiry, as it may jeopardize future or ongoing investigations," they told The Register.
As for Scaglione's whereabouts? It is unknown, he's not answering the phone nor answering a knock at his door.
Some KCCI staffers are stunned, others are not. But there is no question this leaves a black mark on a station that has no been number 1 in the market.
"This.... is going to leave a mark," said one staffer to FTVLive.
Stay tuned...
