A Las Vegas Democratic official was arrested Wednesday night as a suspect in the violent killing of local journalist Jeff German.
Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles was escorted out of his house on a stretcher loaded into an ambulance, video captured by the Las Vegas Review-Journal showed.
German was fatally stabbed last Friday night outside his home. In tweets over the last few months, Telles accused the investigative reporter of smearing his political record and sullying his reputation in a series of articles, eventually costing him his primary election to his opponent in June. He had alleged that Telles’ tenure in office was plagued by “emotional stress, bullying and favoritism.”
“Jeff German…may not be done trying to drag me through the mud. To ensure that Democrats rally around Rita, they would have to turn most Democratic voters against me even now when I should be irrelevant. Don’t be surprised if the articles keep coming,” Telles said in a statement found by KTNV.
Telles tweeted on June 18th, “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.”
German had been pursuing a subsequent story about Telles in the weeks before he was murdered.
The administrator’s arrest comes after police executed a search warrant of Telles’ home as part of a homicide investigation early Wednesday, granted after authorities released a photo of a red SUV they say was connected to the attack on German. The Review-Journal reporters later claimed they saw Telles in the driveway of his home with a vehicle matching the description.
While the search of his residence was being conducted, detectives interviewed Telles, according to authorities. Telles’ vehicle was later towed. Review-Journal reporters confronted Telles at his home in the late afternoon to find him wearing what appeared to be a hazmat suit, video indicates. When reporters asked why police confiscated his car, he gave no comment.
Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo and Captain Dori Koren are scheduled to deliver an update on the investigation Thursday morning, the publication said.