(Reuters) – A county public administrator in Las Vegas is due to make an initial court appearance on Thursday after being arrested for the murder of a Las Vegas investigative reporter who had written news articles exposing complaints of wrongdoing at his office.
Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles is scheduled to appear at 1:30 p.m. local time at the Las Vegas Justice Court where he faces one count of murder with the use of a deadly weapon or tear gas, according to online court records. No attorney was listed for Telles.
Telles was arrested on Wednesday, the Review-Journal reported, five days after Jeff German, a reporter for the newspaper, was fatally stabbed outside his home after what police described as an altercation with his killer.
German, 69, was well known in Las Vegas for his decades of reporting on political malfeasance and organized crime in Nevada’s largest city.
Las Vegas police confirmed in a Twitter post that a suspect in German’s murder had been arrested but did not identify him.
German had spent months reporting on complaints that Telles had an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate and oversaw an abusive workplace, which Telles denied, saying the complaints were from disgruntled “old-timers.”
Soon after German’s investigation was published, Telles failed in his re-election bid, losing the Democratic primary in June. He was due to leave office in January.
Authorities had interviewed Telles and searched his home on Wednesday, including his vehicle, which matched the description of a vehicle witnesses saw at the scene of the crime.
Telles declined to speak to reporters outside his home, following the police interview and search. He was wearing what appeared to be a hazmat suit and sandals.
Glenn Cook, the Review-Journal’s executive editor, said German’s colleagues were devastated by his killing.
“He was the gold standard of the news business,” Cook said in a statement. “It’s hard to imagine what Las Vegas would be like today without his many years of shining a bright light on dark places.”
(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago, editing by Deepa Babington)
