Update 2: The Denver Police Department has released a booking photo of Steffan Tubbs, the KOA morning-show radio host who was arrested on Sunday, July 30, on suspicion of domestic violence, disturbance by phone; see our previous coverage below. In addition, the DPD has made available a probable-cause statement that adds more details about the incident.
According to the police document, the alleged victim was involved in a relationship with Tubbs for a period of approximately two years.
The report states that Tubbs left voice-mail messages and sent videos and texts, some featuring "vulgar language," with the "intent to annoy the victim."
Tubbs was scheduled to make his first court appearance this morning. Continue for our previous coverage.
Update below: Steffan Tubbs, longtime host of KOA's Colorado Morning News, was reportedly arrested early Sunday, July 30, on suspicion of domestic violence, disturbance via phone. While local law enforcement hasn't released an official report about the arrest at this writing, the charge typically involves a threat delivered either by voice or text message.
The news about Tubbs's arrest was broken by Fox31, which aired police dispatch audio from the call. According to the station, the bust took place at 9:50 a.m. on the 30th at a 1650 Wewatta Street apartment complex.
Reporter/anchor Tammy Vigil tweeted that the alleged victim was an ex-girlfriend of the host's, but that reference didn't wind up in the outlet's final package. However, the audio makes note that Tubbs has a concealed-carry permit and typically travels with a nine-millimeter handgun in his car.
To put it mildly, Tubbs is among the least likely Denver media figures to get in trouble with the law. As we noted in our December 2005 profile of the host, headlined "Home Boy," he has a newsy background, having received plenty of attention for his coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing trial, and he's been less overtly conservative than his predecessor on the Colorado Morning News, Steve Kelley, who recently left his afternoon-drive slot at KNUS. Indeed, in 2008, Tubbs told us that Denverites should stop whining about all the inconveniences caused by that year's Democratic National Convention and enjoy the historic nature of the event.
Over the years, Tubbs has championed veterans, whom he encourages listeners to remember on a daily basis. His personal website points out that "in both 2010 and 2012, he had the honor of taking WWII veterans back to the island of Iwo Jima. In 2011, Tubbs traveled with WWII veterans to Normandy, France to commemorate the D-Day anniversary and on multiple occasions he has traveled to Hawaii with Pearl Harbor survivors to commemorate the attack of December 7, 1941."
In 2016, we named Tubbs Denver's best radio talk-show host. The item reads:
Steffan Tubbs has made a career in Denver radio by doing the little things better than anyone else. Instead of keeping the focus on himself via outrageous statements or loony stunts, he's a facilitator whose main goal is to make those around him shine, be they other members of the KOA team — including co-host April Zesbaugh — or the people he's interviewing. He's smart, efficient and well-prepared, sharing the news and information listeners need during morning-drive time so professionally that it's easy to overlook his skills. But rest assured, he has them in abundance.Prior to the latest incident, arguably the worst trouble Tubbs has gotten into involved him calling onetime MTV star Snooki "fucking ugly" in an on-air slip back in 2013. Afterward, KOA released the following statement:
We are aware of a recent inappropriate comment that was made on-air by Steffan Tubbs. While Steffan made the comment in what he thought was a private conversation, it was still thoughtless and insensitive and we apologize to anyone whom it offended. We take matters of this nature very seriously and we will take appropriate disciplinary action.Thus far, KOA hasn't weighed in about Tubbs's arrest. We've reached out to iHeartMedia market boss Tim Hager for comment and will update this post when and if he gets back to us.
In addition, we've contacted Tubbs to get his side of the story and will share any information he provides.
Update: Moments ago, we received the following statement from iHeartMedia's Tim Hager: "We take matters of this kind very seriously, and while we cannot comment on the personal matter of an employee, we are looking into the situation so we can further review and respond as appropriate."
