TV meteorologist no longer at station; minors say he solicited them

Stephen Gruber-Miller and Aaron Young | The Des Moines Register

Show Caption Hide Caption Sexual allegations build against meteorologist who was taken off air Meteorologist Frank Scaglione is no longer employed at KCCI-TV, an executive at the station said Sunday. Scaglione is being accused of using social media to pursue sexual relationships with boys under 18.

DES MOINES — Meteorologist Frank Scaglione is no longer an employee of KCCI-TV, an executive at the Des Moines station said.

KCCI news director Dave Busiek declined Monday to answer questions about the reason for Scaglione's departure and whether he was fired or left voluntarily.

On Sunday, several Twitter accounts posted allegations that Scaglione, 26, has used social media to pursue sexual relationships with boys younger than 18. The Des Moines Register contacted several people associated with the tweets.

In both the posts and in interviews with the Register, half a dozen youths described Scaglione pursuing personal relationships with them over social media, in some cases sending unsolicited pictures of genitals or of his shirtless upper body to 17-year-old boys in the Des Moines area. Several boys described Scaglione asking increasingly personal questions, including requests to get lunch, to come to his house or to send pictures of their genitals.

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Scaglione's Twitter and Facebook accounts were apparently deleted Sunday. On Twitter, he had more than 13,200 followers.

Scaglione's biography vanished from KCCI's website over the weekend. He did not return multiple phone messages Sunday and Monday. A woman who identified herself as his grandmother said Monday in a phone interview that she did not know how to contact her grandson.

Scaglione has not been charged with any crimes. Asked whether anybody had ever reported Scaglione's conduct to police or whether police had investigated him, Sgt. Anthony Giampolo, a spokesman for 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."

Waukee police and the Polk County and Dallas County attorney's offices did not respond to messages seeking comment Monday.

Scaglione graduated from Waukee High School in 2010. He owns a house in Waukee. No one answered when a reporter knocked there Monday.

Scaglione had worked for KCCI in the weather department since March 2009, when he was 17, per his LinkedIn account.

While maintaining his role with KCCI, Scaglione completed his bachelor's degree at AIB College of Business in Des Moines, studied meteorology online through Mississippi State University and worked toward an MBA at Iowa State University.

Scaglione founded an advertising agency, Westown Advertising Media, and a sports marketing firm, Westown Sports Marketing. Clients of Westown Sports Marketing's included Des Moines-area high schools.

Johnston's contract with the company ended in November 2016. Waukee severed all professional ties with Scaglione and terminated vendor contracts with Westown Sports Marketing in January 2017.

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In two separate interviews with the Register in recent years, Scaglione has been asked about his social media use. He said large portions of his followers are young people.

"I think it's cool that I am reaching these younger, non-traditional consumers," Scaglione told a Register reporter in November 2016. "These are kids that would otherwise have no interaction with KCCI."

He said in May 2017 how he wants "to be a resource to young people — try to set a good example, be reachable and interactable" in terms of weather coverage and consumption.

On Twitter, Scaglione provided engaging weather updates with sparks of humor. His tweets included GIFs, emojis and abbreviated text slang popularly used by teenagers and young adults.

In a Feb. 3 tweet, Scaglione asked his followers if anyone would want to take his new vehicle with them to prom.

Although many of the accusers posted allegations online on accounts that use their names, the Register does not typically identify potential victims of sexual misconduct without their permission.

One accuser is a 17-year-old student at Southeast Polk High School. He said in an interview Sunday that he initially connected with Scaglione on the social media app Snapchat a couple of months ago.

"It was cool to add the weather guy on Snapchat," he said. "You know, it was a thing. So I added him but (was) not expecting him to add me back."

When Scaglione added him back — an action on Snapchat that allows two people to then exchange personal messages, including images and videos — the teen said he initially sent Scaglione a joking message asking about the weather. But Scaglione responded and asked the teen how old he was. The teen said he repeatedly told Scaglione he was 17.

"I thought that it was weird at the time that he was asking me my age, but I didn’t really think anything of it at first, just because I felt like he was just a trusted person," the teen said.

The teen alleges Scaglione sent him a message asking him to come over to his house. When he made an excuse not to come, Scaglione sent him inappropriate statements and photos of genitals, the teen said.

"It was an immediate block after that," he said.

After the teen blocked Scaglione, he said Scaglione sent him a private message on Twitter asking, "did you delete me on snap?" The teen provided a screenshot, although its authenticity wasn't verifiable.

The teen said he didn't tell anyone about the incident and hadn't intended to say anything, but that he felt more comfortable speaking out when he saw other allegations on Twitter and felt like he wasn't alone.

Another male accuser, who was 17 when the pair first interacted, said Scaglione added him on Snapchat in March 2017.

"I had no idea who he was, so I added him back. I slowly came to realize who he was," he said.

The teen said their conversation started with Scaglione asking if he'd like to start a Snapchat streak, a term that means sending messages back and forth to each other daily without stopping.

"I told him no. No way. That's weird," the teen recalled. "I'm only 17. You're a grown man."

The teen said he sent one picture of himself — his forehead — to Scaglione.

Within about eight hours, he alleges Scaglione sent shirtless pictures and things "proceeded quickly."

"He sent a picture of himself at the gym with his shirt off, flexing in the mirror. And then he proceeded to ask me questions about me taking my shirt off," the teen said.

"He just kept sending them to me and sending pictures of him without a shirt on. I was uncomfortable."

The teen said he told Scaglione that he wasn't gay and that he has a girlfriend. Over time, he said, he'd open Scaglione's messages but would never engage. He said Scaglione would persistently ask to go on lunch dates. He even offered up his own car to use for prom.

Scaglione also asked the teen personal questions, he alleges, about whether he would ever consider homosexual relationships or about his genitals.

"All this time he's telling me this, I'm not engaging back," the teen said, "so it's more of like a he's reaching out to me."

A third teen who spoke with the Register said Scaglione asked him to watch KCCI and follow him on social media. He said Scaglione sent one photo, but he doesn’t recall it as suggestive.

It wasn't until late Sunday when he saw other allegations on Twitter that the teen said he realized Scaglione's interactions with others had progressed beyond messages.

A senior at Des Moines Roosevelt High School, who was 16 at the time when he and Scaglione first connected, said in an interview that he was in a sexual relationship with Scaglione for more than a year.

"It was over the summer and everybody was going crazy about him on Twitter and Snapchat, so I added him to see what the craze was about," the teen, now 18, told the Register.

Scaglione added him back, the teen said, and the pair began exchanging Snapchat messages. The teen said Scaglione "ended up sending me some inappropriate pictures."

"Because I was young, I guess, I didn't mind it," the teen said. "I thought it was just a thing between me and him."

When he saw other allegations on Twitter and realized his relationship with Scaglione wasn't exclusive, he said he felt manipulated.

The teen said that Scaglione kept pressuring him about when he would come over to his house. Eventually, after working up the confidence, the teen went to Scaglione's residence and "we did hook up a couple times," he said.

Over the length of their on-and-off relationship, the teen claims that he and Scaglione had sex "at least 10" times, usually later at night. Prior to engaging in sexual intercourse, the pair would talk for a bit. And after the acts, "we lay in his bed and cuddled," the teen said.

Two friends of the teen's who are also seniors at Roosevelt said in interviews that they had known their friend was in a sexual relationship with Scaglione.

One of them recalled questioning the age difference between her friend and Scaglione but eventually decided to give up trying to convince him to cut off the relationship. In Iowa, 16-year-olds can consent to sex with adults.

Jake Bullington, a senior journalism student at Drake University, said Monday that, when he read posts about Scaglione online over the weekend, he recognized elements of Scaglione's social media practices from what he saw as a friendship and professional networking relationship with him.

Bullington, 22, said he and Scaglione connected on Twitter two or three years ago over their interest in social media and cars.

"He’s always just kind of framed himself as kind of a mentor to me, and I’ve kind of come to know him as that," Bullington said. "But I guess I’ve experienced some of the same things that other folks say they’ve experienced with just kind of random Snapchats that didn’t really align with what our existing relationship was." He gave examples of Scaglione asking how old he was and sending shirtless pictures.

Bullington said he now feels Scaglione was trying to "groom" him for a relationship — something he didn't recognize at the time.

He said he does not plan to continue his friendship with Scaglione. He initially hesitated to come forward, he said, but chose to do so to give an on-the-record account of Scaglione's behavior that supported the other stories.

The Register tried to but could not contact the person who posted a Twitter message about encounters with Scaglione that spawned Sunday's other posts.

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