Local official, Robert Telles, arrested in slaying of Las Vegas investigative reporter Jeff German

A Las Vegas-area elected public official was arrested Wednesday because the suspect in the deadly stabbing of a veteran newspaper reporter whose investigations of the official’s work preceded his major loss in June.

Clark County Public Administrator Robert “Rob” Telles, a Democrat, was taken into custody at his residence by police SWAT officers hours after investigators served a search warrant and confiscated autos in the prison probe of the killing of Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German, Sheriff Joe Lombardo informed the newspaper.

Telles, 45, was being held on the Clark County Detention Center, CBS News confirmed. Records present Telles faces a cost of open homicide with a lethal weapon. He was due in court docket early Thursday afternoon. 

Telles was taken into custody with self-inflicted wounds, sources told CBS Las Vegas affiliate KLAS-TV. Sources additionally informed the station that DNA linked Telles to the crime scene.

KLAS stated an ambulance took Telles to an space hospital from his residence and he was later dropped at the detention middle.

Telles had been a spotlight of German’s reporting about turmoil together with complaints of administrative bullying, favoritism and Telles’ relationship with a subordinate staffer in the county workplace that handles the property of individuals who die and not using a will or household contacts.

The newspaper’s govt editor, Glenn Cook, stated in an announcement that “the arrest of Robert Telles is at once an enormous relief and an outrage for the Review-Journal newsroom.

“We are relieved Robert Telles is in custody and outraged {that a} colleague seems to have been killed for reporting on an elected official. Journalists cannot do the necessary work our communities require if they’re afraid a presentation of information may result in violent retribution. We thank Las Vegas police for his or her urgency and exhausting work and for instantly recognizing the horrible significance of Jeff’s killing,” Cook stated.

Telles did not instantly reply Wednesday to phone messages at his county workplace, and it wasn’t instantly clear following his arrest if he had an legal professional who may converse on his behalf. The county administrator workplace was closed.

German joined the Review-Journal in 2010 after greater than twenty years on the Las Vegas Sun, the place he was a columnist and reporter who coated courts, politics, labor, authorities and arranged crime.

He was recognized for tales about authorities malfeasance and political scandals and protection of the 2017 mass capturing at a Las Vegas music competition that killed 60 individuals and wounded greater than 400 others.   

Telles, a lawyer who practiced probate and property legislation, received his elected place in 2018, changing a three-term public administrator. He misplaced his June celebration major to Assistant Public Administrator Rita Reid. Telles’ time period expires Dec. 31.

In the weeks earlier than the election, German bylined reviews about an workplace “mired in turmoil and internal dissension” between longtime staff and new hires beneath Telles’ management.

Telles blamed “old-timers” for exaggerating the extent of his relationship with a feminine staffer and falsely claiming that he mistreated them.

“All my new employees are super-happy and everyone’s productive and doing well,” he informed the newspaper. “We’ve almost doubled the productivity in the office.”

Telles later posted Twitter complaints about German, the Review-Journal reported, together with claims in June that German was a bully who was “obsessed” with him.

German, a reporter with a status for tenacity, was engaged on follow-up reviews, the newspaper stated Wednesday, and lately filed public data requests for emails and textual content messages between Telles and three different county officers together with Reid and advisor Michael Murphy.

Murphy, the previous Clark County coroner employed to deal with complaints about management in the general public directors’ workplace, did not instantly reply to a phone message.

German’s physique was discovered Saturday morning exterior his residence. Police stated he apparently was killed Friday and characterised the assault as an remoted incident. The Clark County coroner dominated that German died of “multiple sharp force injuries” and dominated the case a murder.

After police requested for public assist Monday to establish a suspect, developments got here rapidly.

Police on Tuesday confirmed a quick video of a doable suspect strolling on a sidewalk clad in shiny orange “construction attire” and distributed a photograph of a particular purple or maroon GMC Yukon Denali SUV with chrome handles, a sunroof and a baggage rack, saying it could have been linked to the case.

Telles was seen in newspaper images washing an analogous car parked in his driveway on Tuesday, and KTNV-TV reported the car was towed away after police arrived on Wednesday.