Las Vegas Official Charged With Murder of Investigative Journalist After Stand-off at Home
© AP Photo / John Locher
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The local Democratic public administrator struck after finding out that the investigative journalist who helped derail his primary bid was working on another exposé, police say.
Las Vegas police took Democratic Clark County public administrator Robert Telles into custody Thursday following an hourslong standoff after charging the official with murder in the death of Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German last Friday.
The veteran local investigative reporter produced a devastating exposé of Telles in June that was credited with helping cost the suspect his primary race, and German was reportedly working on another critical report on Torres at the time of his killing.
Here’s what we know so far:
On Monday, investigators released footage of a maroon GMC resembling Telles’ vehicle which was reportedly spotted in the vicinity of the crime. After questioning Telles at his home Wednesday, police returned just hours later with SWAT teams and arrested the official, who was taken to a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries after initially refusing to surrender.
An arrest report which surfaced Wednesday indicates Telles killed German in a surprise attack outside his home the morning of last Friday, fatally stabbing the victim at least seven times before “calmly” walking away from the scene, per video footage recovered by police.
"Defensive wounds" on German's hands and arms showed he’d been killed in a violent struggle, and police reportedly moved to capture Telles upon matching his DNA to samples recovered from beneath the reporters’ fingernails Wednesday.
The Las Vegas public administrator suffered an embarrassing primary loss in June after a devastating report was published by German in the Las Vegas Review-Journal headlined: “County office in turmoil with secret video and claims of bullying, hostility.”
Telles responded by lashing out at the reporter in an angry blog post accusing German of “bullying” him and dismissing the Review-Journal as “the local rightwing paper.” And when it turned out the journalist was gearing up for another takedown, that’s when authorities say Telles decided to strike.
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
German had long cultivated a reputation as a tough-nosed reporter who was unafraid to investigate corruption wherever he found it. According to his editor at the Review-Journal, “he cut his teeth covering the mob.”
"Jeff spent over 40 years covering the worst of the worst of Las Vegas,” executive editor Glenn Cook reportedly said. “This was a guy who ran down mobsters, wiseguys and killers."
German’s family reported being "shocked, saddened and angry about his death."
“Jeff was a loving and loyal brother, uncle and friend who devoted his life to his work exposing wrongdoing in Las Vegas and beyond," they said in a statement. "Jeff was committed to seeking justice for others and would appreciate the hard work by local police and journalists in pursuing his killer.”
