ROB MORRISON Ugly past led to abuse charges.
WCBS anchorman Rob Morrison’s suspicious wife once caught him on tape talking about using “sex toys” with a young staffer, sources told The Post yesterday.
Ashley Morrison told a pal, “You’ve got to hear this tape. They went to a sex store together!’’ according to a source who was present at the time.
“They [Rob and his mistress] were caught talking about [sex toys],” the source said. “They were talking vividly on the tape.”
The incident occurred in the mid-2000s, when Rob Morrison worked at NBC before taking a job with CBS.
Morrison, 44, was arrested Sunday morning after allegedly choking his 40-year-old wife, WCBS’s “MoneyWatch’’ anchor, in a vodka-fueled rage at their Darien, Conn., home.
He told cops “I’m f–king killing” her when he was being booked, police said.
The couple’s relationship has been troubled for years, family and sources have said.
When the handsome Morrison was working at NBC, Ashley suspected he was having an affair with a pretty assistant — and decided to plant the digital recorder in his car to catch him, sources said.
“[The mistress] was sweet, smart, cute and star-struck,” said an NBC staffer who knew the other woman, who is now married.
“She had no idea what she was getting into,” the staffer added, referring to Morrison’s wandering eye. “Infidelity was his calling card.”
Several sources said a female friend of Ashley’s, who works for a local TV news station, suggested she plant the recorder.
After hearing the tape, Ashley fired off a mass e-mail to NBC staffers accusing them of being complicit in the affair, according to sources. Ashley has denied sending such an e-mail.
Asked about the secret taping and sex-toy talk yesterday, Morrison responded by e-mail: “Call my attorney. And f–k off.”
His lawyer, Robert Skovgaard, said, “We have no further comment to make regarding Mister Morrison. The media need to let the Morrisons handle this personal, family matter privately.”
Ashley did not respond to a request for comment.
She has told cops that the strapping Morrison — who resigned in disgrace as a WCBS-TV/Channel 2’s morning and noon anchor because of the scandal — has physically abused her throughout their 11-year marriage, a police report has revealed.
Rob Morrison told The Post on Wednesday that he never expects to work in New York TV journalism again.
Yesterday, he updated his LinkedIn page, which now reflects he is no longer at Channel 2, and added the skill of “radio” to his online résumé.
Morrison had been a radio disc jockey while serving with the Marines in Okinawa, Japan, in the early 1990s.
Additional reporting by Beth DeFalco