Las Vegas police have arrested Robert Telles, a local Democrat official, for allegedly murdering Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German.
Police executed a search warrant at Telles’ home earlier in the day and returned a few hours later to place him under arrest.
Review-Journal Executive Editor Glenn Cook said in a statement that Telles’ arrest was “an enormous relief,” but that the newspaper was “outraged that a colleague appears to have been killed for reporting on an elected official.”
Telles lost his primary election in June after reporting by German cast a negative light on the county’s management.
BREAKING: Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles is taken out of his house on a stretcher and loaded into an ambulance. Telles has been arrested in the slaying of @reviewjournal investigative reporter Jeff German. Story: https://t.co/vAhxjgdlzU pic.twitter.com/heEsWlBvJr
— Brett Clarkson (@BrettClarkson_) September 8, 2022
Law enforcement searched the property around 7:00 a.m. Wednesday morning and cordoned off a portion of Telles’ residence, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. A vehicle that police believe is connected to the killing was seen at Telles’ home by Review-Journal reporters.
Authorities have said that they believe the killing to be connected to an altercation between German and an unknown person on Friday. The suspected killer, who was wearing an orange construction vest and wide-brim straw hat, may have been casing the neighborhood for future crimes, according to police.
Earlier this year, German reported on several scandals impacting the city under Telles’ management. German broke a story in May revealing that several current and former employees alleged Telles had created a “hostile work environment.”
The report also said city workers claimed that Telles had an “inappropriate” relationship with staffer Roberta Lee-Kennet. Footage given to German and published by the Journal-Review showed the two, both married, meeting in the backseat of a vehicle.
Though he said he was friends with the Lee-Kennet, Telles dismissed the accusations as coming from disgruntled “old-timers.”
“They are unhappy with the way the office has been taken out of their control,” he said at the time. “All my new employees are super-happy and everyone’s productive and doing well. We’ve almost doubled the productivity in the office.”
Story cited here.
