The Las Vegas police have searched the residence of a local politician in connection to the murder of an investigative journalist.
According to the Metropolitan Police Department, reporter Jeff German was found stabbed to death outside of his home in Sin City on September 3. Law enforcement believe the reporter was killed during an altercation with someone at the residence one day prior. Police released surveillance footage this week, including one showing the suspect wearing a wide straw hat, gloves, a bright orange long-sleeve shirt, and carrying a shoulder bag. Another later showed the unidentified suspect’s vehicle, described as being a 2007 to 2014 red or maroon GMC Yukon Denali with chrome handles and a sunroof.
More on that video below…
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Here’s where things get inneresting…
Before his murder, Jeff had written for the Las Vegas Review-Journal in May about the alleged hostile workplace environment of Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles that included claims of bullying and favoritism, as well as an “inappropriate relationship” with a female staffer, Roberta Lee-Kennett. Current employees even caught the pair in the act and secretly videotaped them in the back seat of the woman’s car in a parking garage at one point. However, Robert denied the accusation, saying Roberta was someone he “could lean on” while he worked on changing the toxic office atmosphere. But the scandal only blew up more.
Estate coordinator Aleisha Goodwin eventually filed a 19-page confidential retaliation complaint with the Clark County Office of Diversity, detailing the relationship with Roberta, videotaping, and more. She wrote:
“The county has failed to protect employees from a mentally and emotionally abusive situation that has continued now for two years-plus, and the mental and physical health ramifications have been felt by most of the full-time employees in this department of only eight full-time employees.”
Amid the controversy from the article, Telles ended up losing his re-election bid in June. Jeff went on to report he had seen a scathing letter Telles posted to his own election website to attack the Review-Journal for the published piece and slam the allegations against him.
In that letter, some employees claimed, there was also a threat to retaliate against them for speaking out against him — and they have since reported their concerns about it to the county’s human resources. Telles also took to Twitter on multiple occasions to blast Jeff, claiming the longtime writer was “obsessed” with him on June 16 and later calling him a bully. He also tweeted:
“Looking forward to lying smear piece #4 by @JGermanRJ. #onetrickpony I think he’s mad that I haven’t crawled into a hole and died. @LVRJ #LasVegas”
Whoa…
So what does this article have anything to do with Jeff’s homicide? Well, just hours after the image of the GMC Yukon Denali dropped on Tuesday, Review-Journal reporters actually spotted Telles in the driveway of his home with a vehicle matching the description. Wait, what?! A maroon Yukon?? What are the odds?
And law enforcement have reportedly served a search warrant at the home of the politician on Wednesday morning!
The Review-Journal noted that officials and police vehicles were outside Robert’s residence at around 7 a.m. and taped off a section around the property at the time. They stated that the car had been there, as well. Police said in a statement that they were serving search warrants in the 7200 block of Bronze Circle, where the murder happened. They added:
“No further information will be provided at this time.”
But folks following the case closely aren’t buying this coy act from the cops. Remember that surveillance video??
unusual and in my opinion, convincing. Here is a video of Mr. Telles walking (pulled from a Jeff German story published May 2022)
Compare that to the video released by @LVMPD. Looks identical to me. The way the hand swings and his shorter steps match up perfectly. pic.twitter.com/Je9qKPSUfj— WhiteKnight (@WhiteKnight1014) September 7, 2022
Meanwhile, Telles’ whereabouts on Wednesday remain unknown, though his parking spot at the public administrator’s office in the area was empty. Following the news of the search warrant, Review-Journal Executive Editor Glenn Cook said Jeff never expressed any concerns about his safety or revealed any threats made against him while mourning:
“The Review-Journal family is devastated to lose Jeff. He was the gold standard of the news business. It’s hard to imagine what Las Vegas would be like today without his many years of shining a bright light on dark places.”
This one place may just have been darker than he ever could have imagined.
This is wild, y’all. We’ll have to keep you updated if any new developments come from this case. Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments (below).
[Image via Robert Telles/YouTube, 8 News NOW Las Vegas/YouTube]