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Police Arrest Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles on Suspicion of Murder in Fatal Stabbing of Investigative Reporter Jeff German

Meghann CuniffSep 7th, 2022, 10:53 pm
 

Robert Telles, the elected public administrator for Clark County, Nevada, was taken from his home on a stretcher and placed in am ambulance after being arrested on suspicion of murdering investigative reporter Jeff German. (screenshot from Twitter video from Brett Clarkson of the Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Police on Wednesday arrested the elected public administrator of Clark County, Nevada, on suspicion of murder in the stabbing death of an investigative reporter who’d written several articles about problems in his office.

Sheriff Joe Lombardo confirmed to several Las Vegas media outlets that Robert Telles was arrested for the fatal stabbing of Jeff German, an investigative reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Police had searched Telles’ home early Wednesday.

A Democrat, Telles lost his re-election bid in June’s primary amid reporting from German about problems in his office. German, 69, was still investigating Telles when he was found dead of stab wounds outside his home Saturday about 10:30 a.m., having recently filed requests for public records pertaining to Telles and three other county officials, according to the Review-Journal, including one with whom Telles is allegedly involved in an inappropriate relationship.

Robert Telles

Robert Telles is the elected public administrator for Clark County, Nevada, which includes Las Vegas. (screenshot from KLAS-TV in Las Vegas)

Telles reportedly met with police on Wednesday, and video posted on Twitter showed him returning to his home about 2:20 p.m. in a white hazmat-style suit while being questioned by reporters as he opened his garage door.

“Did you do this? Did you commit this murder?”

“Why did police tow away your vehicle?”

“Can you tell us anything?”

Telles said nothing. About four hours later, “police had returned in tactical gear and were surrounding the home while Telles remained inside,” according to the Review-Journal. News of his arrest started spreading about 6:30 p.m., with video posted on Twitter showing him being brought out of his home on a stretcher and placed in an ambulance that left with a police escort.

Telles, 45, has been a licensed attorney with the Nevada State Bar since Jan. 9, 2015. He earned a law degree from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas School of Law in 2014, then opened his own probate and estate planning firm, Accolade Law, in February 2015, according to his LinkedIn profile. He was then elected public administrator of Clark County in November 2018 and took office in January 2019. The position builds on his law practice, as the public administrator is tasked with overseeing property for deceased people while a family or estate manager is found.

Jeff German

Jeff German, image via Nevada Newsmakers screengrab

Before becoming a lawyer, Telles spent nearly seven years as a technician for heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration at the College of Southern Nevada.

Police have released no details about their investigation, but Telles hasn’t been shy about his dislike for German, having criticized the reporter in several tweets over the summer.

Authorities only confirmed on their official Twitter account late Wednesday that a suspect was taken into custody.

On Tuesday, police released surveillance video and still images of a murder suspect, as well as photos of a red SUV that reporters in Las Vegas have said fits the description of Telles’ vehicle.

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Meghann Cuniff - Senior Reporter on the West Coast

A graduate of the University of Oregon, Meghann worked at The Spokesman-Review in Spokane, Washington, and the Idaho Statesman in Boise, Idaho, before moving to California in 2013 to work at the Orange County Register. She spent four years as a litigation reporter for the Los Angeles Daily Journal and one year as a California-based editor and reporter for Law.com and associated publications such as The National Law Journal and New York Law Journal before joining Law & Crime News. Meghann has written for The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Los Angeles Magazine, Bloomberg Law, ABA Journal, The Forward, Los Angeles Business Journal and the Laguna Beach Independent. Her Twitter coverage of federal court hearings in a lawsuit over homelessness in Los Angeles placed 1st in the Los Angeles Press Club's Southern California Journalism Awards for Best Use of Social Media by an Independent Journalist in 2021. An article she freelanced for Los Angeles Times Community News about a debate among federal judges regarding the safety of jury trials during COVID also placed 1st in the Orange County Press Club Awards for Best Pandemic News Story in 2021.

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