Authorities issued search warrants Wednesday morning in reference to the homicide of Las Vegas Overview-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German, Las Vegas police mentioned.
Round 7 a.m., reporters noticed uniformed officers and police autos exterior the house of Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles, who had been the topic of tales by German. Authorities had additionally taped a bit round Telles’ home.
German spent months reporting on the turmoil surrounding Robert Telles’ surveillance of the workplace. The 45-year-old Democrat misplaced his re-election bid within the June major after German’s findings had been launched.
German, 69, was discovered lifeless exterior his northwest Las Vegas residence on September 3, the Metropolitan Police Division reported. Officers consider he was fatally stabbed throughout an altercation the day earlier than.
As of Wednesday morning, police had recorded an space close to Telles’ residence within the West Valley.
Two surveillance footage from the investigation has been made public.
RELATED: Embattled county official loses re-election bid, points offended letter
The primary reveals an unidentified suspect sporting a large straw hat, gloves and a vibrant orange long-sleeved shirt. The opposite captures a automobile that police say was linked to the assault: a pink or maroon 2007-2014 GMC Yukon Denali with chrome door handles and a sunroof.
Hours after the picture of the automobile was revealed, Overview-Journal reporters noticed Telles within the driveway of his residence with a automobile matching that description.
German’s dying got here months after experiences that present and former staff alleged that Telles fueled a hostile work atmosphere and had an “inappropriate relationship” with subordinate worker Roberta Lee-Kennett. The complaints led to co-workers secretly filming the 2 within the again seat of Lee-Kennett’s automotive in a parking zone. The story additionally included allegations of bullying and favoritism by Telles.
Telles denied the fees and mentioned Lee-Kennett, who additionally labored below former public administrator John Cahill, was merely one of many individuals he “may lean on” as he tried to alter the workplace environment.
He positioned third in his occasion’s major for re-election to the county workplace, which oversees the estates of those that have died.
That very same month, he hit out at German in a sequence of public Twitter posts, accusing the journalist of cooking up “lie #4”.
Explosions comply with investigation
The Overview-Journal’s first investigative article on Telles was revealed in mid-Could.
The story describes a confidential 19-page retaliation grievance filed with the Clark County Range Workplace by actual property coordinator Aleisha Goodwin, the place she supplied particulars of Telles’ relationship with Lee-Kennett, the video recording and its alleged micromanagement of full-time staff.
“The county has failed to guard staff from a scenario of psychological and emotional abuse that has now lasted for greater than two years, and the psychological and bodily well being ramifications have been felt by most full-time staff. of this division of solely eight full-time individuals. -time staff,” Goodwin wrote.
On Could 26, German reported that senior Clark County officers had employed a former coroner, Michael Murphy, to handle friction in Telles’ workplace after a number of allegations of intimidation and patronage.
German’s June 18 story revealed that Telles posted a scathing letter on his election web site. The letter attacked the Overview-Journal and its reporting and claimed that the allegations towards it had been false. He additionally leveled what some staff mentioned was a risk of retaliation towards them for stepping ahead. They instructed German they nonetheless feared for his or her jobs and raised their issues in regards to the letter with county human assets.
Because of the simmering animosity, the highest supervisor below Telles, Rita Reid, determined to run towards him in that yr’s Democratic major.
Typical bully. I am unable to settle for a pound evaluate after throwing 100 BS books. As much as article #4 now. You’d suppose he would have higher issues to do. :tuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
— Rob Telles (@RobTellesLV) June 25, 2022
Cahill, who preceded Telles in energy from 2007 to 2019, instructed German the letter was one other effort to intimidate staff.
Telles aired his grievances with German through Twitter on a number of events, saying on June 16 that the journalist was “obsessed” with him. Later that month, he referred to as him a bully.
“I feel it is loopy that I did not crawl right into a gap and die,” learn one other tweet.
After his first loss, Telles introduced that he would return to working towards probate regulation. German’s final article on Telles, revealed on June 22, introduced that he had conceded within the major race.
Editor Glenn Prepare dinner mentioned German by no means raised issues about his private security or any threats made towards him to anybody within the Overview-Journal’s administration.
“The Overview-Journal household is devastated to lose Jeff,” Prepare dinner mentioned. “He was the gold commonplace of the information trade. It is onerous to think about what Las Vegas could be like at the moment with out his a few years of lighting up darkish locations.
Acclaimed Journalist Commemorated
German’s journalism profession spanned 40 years in Las Vegas.
His reporting uncovered corruption and crimes perpetrated by politicians, cops, legal professionals, judges, on line casino trade executives and mafia figures.
He constructed a status of belief along with his sources, refusing to expose those that requested to not be revealed. He joined the Overview-Journal in 2010 after greater than twenty years on the Las Vegas Solar.
German’s investigative work led to reforms and coverage modifications.
Elder Clark County District Lawyer David Roger remembered him earlier this week as a tenacious reporter who “simply would not quit.”
Lately, his reporting has uncovered failures in metropolis inspections earlier than the lethal 2019 Alpine Motel Residences fireplace and extremist exercise in southern Nevada.
He introduced that Councilwoman Michele Fiore’s marketing campaign funds had been being scrutinized by the FBI and reported that metropolis officers had deleted surveillance movies of an altercation with fellow Councilwoman Victoria Seaman, though the Overview -Journal requested copies below Nevada public information regulation.
German was the author and host of Season 2 of “Mobbed Up: the Struggle for Vegas,” the Overview-Journal’s acclaimed true-crime podcast. His e-book, “Homicide in Sin Metropolis: The Loss of life of a Las Vegas On line casino Boss”, chronicles the 1998 dying of on line casino supervisor Ted Binion.
Components of this story had been taken from earlier experiences by German.
Contact Briana Erickson at berickson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5244. Observe @ByBrianaE on Twitter. Contact Glenn Puit at gpuit@reviewjournal.com. Observe @GlennatRJ on Twitter. Author Sabrina Schnur contributed to this story.
#Police #raid #county #officers #residence #connection #journalists #homicide