David McKee

Clark County Administrator Robert Telles (D) is in custody for the murder of Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German in what has all the appearance of a revenge killing. Good work by Las Vegas Metro, despite a set of conflicting statements that the German assassination was “an isolated incident” and the act of someone casing the neighborhood for crimes of opportunity. (Like killing crusading reporters, we guess.) The alleged perp was stupid enough to drive to and from the crime scene in a GMC Yukon Denali tricked out with chrome handles and a sunroof, not your average perp. Ditto the strange disguise affected, which had Metro briefly baffled as to whether the suspect was a he or a she. Perhaps the sight of Telles washing town the Denali hours after the crime was what did him in. (Or maybe it was wearing a white hazmat suit to clean his garage. Nothing strange about that, eh?)

Just prior to being apprehended by Metro, Telles sustained what is described as a self-inflicted wound (mens rea?) and was carried from his SWAT-breached home on a stretcher. A Denali matching crime-scene footage was towed from his driveway. The timing of the crime was opportune and incriminating: According to the Los Angeles Times, “German was working on a new story about Telles the week he was stabbed to death.” Previously, German had covered Telles for “allegations of bullying, favoritism and an inappropriate relationship between Telles and a subordinate. Telles had publicly accused German of being a ‘bully’ and running a ‘smear’ campaign against him,” in the great tradition of Nevada elected officials. (Telles remains in office until December 31.)