XPost: talk.politics.guns, vegas.general, alt.journalism.newspapers
XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh

In article <t2548m$3cs0f$85@news.freedyn.de>
<governor.swill@gmail.com> wrote:

Robert Telles, a longtime Las Vegas resident with a political
and legal background, is under arrest on suspicion of murdering
a journalist.

Metro took the Clark County public administrator into custody at
his home Wednesday afternoon. The Clark County Public
Administrator was charged in connection with the recent slaying
of Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German, Sheriff
Joe Lombardo said..

Telles placed third in his office’s Democratic primary this
summer, following the publication of a Review-Journal
investigation into complaints about his actions in the office.
He was bested by his office’s top supervisor, Rita Reid. His
term is slated to end in January.

Personal life

Telles, 45, has said he’s lived in Las Vegas for more than 20
years. He was born in Biloxi, Mississippi, grew up in El Paso,
Texas and then lived in the Denver area before moving here,
according to a May 2021 interview with Veterans in Politics.

He told the Review-Journal he worked as an HVAC technician at
the College of Southern Nevada before graduating from UNLV’s
William S. Boyd School of Law in spring of 2014.

Prior to his time in office, he operated Accolade Law, a small
firm focused on probate and estate planning. He was named Nevada
Legal Service’s “Pro Bono Attorney of the Year” in 2014.

Telles told the Review-Journal earlier this year that he had
been married for over a decade and has three children.

Political career

Telles, a Democrat, was elected to serve a four-year term as a
public administrator in late 2018 and was endorsed by long-time
Public Administrator John Cahill, who did not seek re-election.

It appears to be the first political position he held in Nevada.

The public administrator is responsible for securing dead
people’s property while their family or executor is located,
according to the county. The office also administers estates in
court when families cannot.

The position pays roughly $120,000 in annual salary, according
to data from the Transparent Nevada website.

In late 2019, Gov. Steve Sisolak appointed Telles to the state’s
newly created Board of Indigent Defense Services.

Volunteer work

He’s been active in a variety of local organizations according
to his LinkedIn page, including the Clark County Bar
Association, Las Vegas Rotary Club and Olive Crest foster-care
agency.

Officials with the organizations said Wednesday they were
stunned to hear police had searched his home.

“I never had a reason to doubt his integrity, his energy or his
commitment to public service,” said Rotary Club secretary Stuart
Lipoff.

Telles joined the Las Vegas chapter of the service club in 2013,
where he became a board member for a time and was a frequent
participant in charitable activities, Lipoff said. However, the
two hadn’t seen each other in person for about two years.

Similarly, Bar Association secretary-treasurer Paul Ray said he
knew Telles to be a “friendly guy” during the four years he
served as a committee chairman for the organization.

“He’s very active in serving in the community, it doesn’t seem
like it goes together (with the killing),” Ray said.

Olive Crest CEO Donald Verleur said Telles passed a criminal
background check before he joined the organization’s board of
trustees in November 2017.

Telles did not help set policy in the role, but instead helped
fundraise, Verleur said. He left the organization in 2020,
citing other obligations.

“Olive Crest has been around since 1973, almost 50 years,
something like this has never occurred,” Verleur said.

LVRJ investigation

Telles was the subject of Review-Journal investigation published
by German earlier this year.

Current and former employees in his office leveled allegations
of emotional stress, bullying and favoritism against him. Some
claimed he was in an “inappropriate relationship” with a female
subordinate staffer.

After the story ran, top county officials hired a former coroner
to address the issues in Telles’ office.

Telles publicized his frustrations with German through Twitter
on multiple occasions. The official labeled the reporter as an
“obsessed” bully who was preparing another ““lying smear piece.”

Telles also published a letter on his election website stating
the accusations against him were false.

Home raided

Police served search warrants at Telles’ two-story home in the
Peccole Ranch neighborhood of Las Vegas on Wednesday morning.

Records show Telles purchased the four-bedroom property for
$215,000 in 2011.

The house is about a 15-minute drive from German’s home in
northwest Las Vegas, where neighbors found the reporter’s body
outside Saturday.

Officials believe German, 69, was fatally stabbed during an
altercation Friday.

On Tuesday afternoon, police released a photo of a vehicle tied
to the slaying: a 2007 to 2014 red or maroon GMC Yukon Denali
with chrome handles and a sunroof.

Review-Journal reporters spotted Telles in the driveway of his
home later that day, washing a vehicle matching that
description. The car was towed from Telles’ house Wednesday
afternoon.

Contact Michael Scott Davidson at sdavidson@reviewjournal.com or
702-477-3861. Follow @davidsonlvrj on Twitter.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/investigations/who-is-county- official-robert-telles-2635614/

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)