WTMJ has parted ways with investigative reporter Rob Koebel after he was cited for disorderly conduct last month. Koebel allegedly became belligerent with police after he was caught urinating outside an Apple store in Glendale, WI.
A police report obtained by Whitefish Bay Patch describes the incident:
When Koebel started urinating outside of the Apple store, the security guard told him to stop, but Koebel ignored him.
AdvertisementGlendale police arrived at the scene shortly. Koebel took his phone out of his pocket, and when police told him to put his phone away, he said, “No, not gonna happen.” He then put his phone back in his pocket, but then later took it out again.
When the officer asked Koebel to hand him his phone, he said: ‘No, do you know who you’re messing with?’
The police report goes on to say that Koebel was “uncooperative” with officers when he arrived at the station, calling them names “such as ‘(expletive) face’, as well as a derogatory term for homosexual.”
Journal Broadcast Group executive vice president Steve Wexler told Jim Romenesko, “Rob is no longer with WTMJ.”
Koebel joined WTMJ, the NBC affiliate in Milwaukee, in May 2011. In July, it was reported that a bus driver was suing him, as well as Journal Broadcast Group, for publicly ambushing her about her past as a prostitute.
Koebel was formerly married to HLN anchor Christi Paul. Paul published a book this summer, Love Isn’t Supposed to Hurt, detailing the “emotional abuse heaped on her by her first husband whose violent, profanity-laced tirades left her feeling as though she had no value, no self-worth, and nowhere to turn for help.”