According to public records, a disgraced Clark County politician convicted of murdering an investigative journalist has been transferred from a Las Vegas jail to a state prison.
Robert Telles (48 years old) was recently moved from the Clark County Detention Center to High Desert State Prison after being convicted in August of first-degree murder. Telles received a sentence of 28 years to life, by both a judge and jury.
A jury determined that Telles premeditatedly killed Jeff German, a Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter, on Labor Day Weekend 2022. Later Clark County District Court Judge Michelle Leavitt increased the sentence because of German’s old age and Telles’s use of a dangerous weapon.
German published several investigative articles exposing dysfunction in the Clark County Public Administration Office. Telles assumed this office in 2019, after being elected to the position in 2018. His term ended on January 2, 2023. In September 2022, he was arrested for German’s murder.
According to 8 News Now, detectives discovered Telles’ DNA in German’s fingernails.
The prosecutor said, “His motivation included preventing the publication of an article that would have revealed a relationship between an administrator, Roberta Lee Kennett, and a subordinate. “
Lee Kennett reported that Telles told her German was writing articles about her. She refused to answer any questions and left without saying a word.
Telles was found guilty after three days of jury deliberations. 8 News Now investigators conducted the first interview of any jury member who had been deliberating on Telles. One juror stated that Telles’s mother, who told the jury she accepted their verdict but wished that her son be released someday, was instrumental in helping them not to sentence him to life without parole.
Telles claimed that he was not involved in German’s murder and that the police and prosecutors were attempting to frame him. Robert Draskovich presented evidence that the police tracked Telles’ phone and had surveilled him for weeks before his arrest.
In his second interview with 8 News Now reporter Vanessa Murphy, the day after his conviction, Telles expressed his concern about being sent to prison.
Murphy was concerned about his future sentence while still at the Clark County Detention Center.
“I am concerned that, you know, if for some reason I’m released into the general population, that an accident may happen and I may not, you know, I may not make it,” Telles said. “So I’m concerned about that, you know. But I’m also concerned about being put in, you know, a protective custody situation in one of the other prisons where I’m not allowed out of my cell, and I’m not allowed to work.”
According to public records, Telles may be released as early as September 2050.
