Slain Las Vegas reporter spent career chasing corruption stories

LAS VEGAS — In 4 a long time of writing in regards to the Las Vegas underworld and authorities corruption, investigative reporter Jeff German took on loads of highly effective and harmful individuals. The hard-bitten newsman was as soon as punched by an organized crime affiliate and acquired veiled threats from mobsters.

Nothing appeared to faze him as he doggedly went about his work.

So German (GEHR’-man) characteristically did not categorical concern when Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles, a just about unknown politician answerable for an obscure and small authorities workplace, took to Twitter final spring to angrily denounce the reporter.

German, who labored for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, had written about bullying and favoritism within the public administrator’s workplace and an inappropriate relationship by Telles with a feminine subordinate.

Authorities say German’s preliminary investigation and follow-up stories had been the motivation for Telles to fatally stab German final week on the reporter’s house. DNA on the scene linked Telles to the killing as did sneakers and a particular straw hat discovered at his house that matched these worn by a suspect caught on video, investigators said Thursday.

Police arrested Telles on Wednesday after a short standoff at his house. Telles was hospitalized for what Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo described as non-life-threatening, self-inflicted wounds.

Glenn Cook, govt editor of the Review-Journal, stated there was speak throughout the newspaper about Telles being “unhinged” however he by no means made any bodily threats towards German and the reporter by no means stated he was frightened.

The thought this was the story that will put German’s security in danger appeared implausible, he stated, remembering how the reporter recounted as soon as being punched by an organized crime affiliate.

“He cut his teeth covering the mob,” Cook stated. “Jeff spent over 40 years covering the worst of the worst of Las Vegas. This was a guy who ran down mobsters, wise guys and killers.”

Killings of journalists within the U.S. in retaliation for his or her work are extraordinarily uncommon. Up till German’s demise, eight journalists have been killed within the U.S. since 1992, in keeping with the Committee to Protect Journalists. The deadliest assault got here in 2018 when a taking pictures on the Capital Gazette in Maryland left 5 useless.

“Jeff’s death is a sobering reminder of the inherent risks of investigative journalism,” stated Diana Fuentes, govt director of the group Investigative Reporters & Editors. “Journalists do their jobs every day, digging deep to find information the public needs to know and has a right to see.”

German joined the Review-Journal in 2010 after greater than 20 years on the Las Vegas Sun, the place he was a columnist and reporter who coated courts, politics, labor, authorities and crime. He was 69, however by no means talked together with his boss about retirement, Cook stated.

Former co-workers together with attorneys and authorities officers German counted on as sources referred to as him a hard-nosed, tenacious journalist who might be gruff at instances, particularly if somebody didn’t know him or was holding again information.

“He was not someone who was easily intimidated,” stated Geoff Schumacher, who labored with German on the Sun till the late Nineteen Nineties. “Getting to the truth, that was more important to him than his own well-being or being popular.”

The pair not too long ago labored collectively on a podcast referred to as “Mobbed Up.”

German talked about receiving veiled threats from mobsters within the early Nineteen Eighties at a time when individuals had been disappearing as regulation enforcement cracked down on organized crime. The warnings positively received German’s consideration, however he by no means went to police, stated Schumacher, who now works at at The Mob Museum in Las Vegas

Alan Feldman, a former govt with MGM Resorts International, stated getting a name from German was like listening to from the CBS news present, “60 Minutes.” He didn’t speak robust or threaten anybody, Feldman stated, however he by no means backed down.

And he at all times adopted the story even when it didn’t go within the route he anticipated, he stated.

“The last thing I would say about Jeff is that anything scared him or that he was afraid,” Feldman stated. “He was prepared to go after anyone who was doing something not in the public interest.”

Telles, a Democrat who apparently had by no means served in public workplace till he was elected in 2018, oversaw lower than 10 individuals and was paid about $120,000 a yr to run an workplace that offers with estates and the property of individuals after they die. Before that he was a lawyer working towards probate and property regulation.

In the weeks earlier than the June main, German bylined stories about an workplace “mired in turmoil and internal dissension” between longtime workers and new hires underneath Telles’ management. Following the stories, county officers employed a advisor to assist oversee the workplace.

Telles blamed “old-timers” for exaggerating the extent of his relationship with a feminine staffer and falsely claiming that he mistreated them. He posted complaints on Twitter about German, saying he was a bully who was “obsessed” with him.

Telles ended up ending final within the three-way main and was serving out the rest of his time period on the time of the killing.

The articles “ruined his political career, likely his marriage, and this was him lashing out at the cause,” Chief Deputy Clark County District Attorney Richard Scow stated Thursday.

German’s household referred to as him “a loving and loyal brother, uncle and friend who devoted his life to his work exposing wrongdoing in Las Vegas and beyond.”

“We’re shocked, saddened and angry about his death,” they stated in a press release. “Jeff was committed to seeking justice for others and would appreciate the hard work by local police and journalists in pursuing his killer. We look forward to seeing justice done in this case.”