Former Las Vegas Democrat official sentenced to 28 years in prison for journalist’s murder

Robert Telles, a former Democratic elected official from Las Vegas, has been sentenced to 28 years in prison for the murder of an investigative reporter.

The victim, Jeff German a reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, was stabbed to death on September 3, 2022 after bringing to light an intimate relationship between Telles and a co-worker. At the time, German had published several articles about her “intimidating” and “hostile” behaviors in the professional setting.

BREAKING: A former Las Vegas-area Democratic official was sentenced to at least 28 years for killing a journalist who wrote articles critical of his conduct in office. https://t.co/L417PUfKpg

— The Associated Press (@AP) October 16, 2024

Jeff German, 69, was a respected reporter with almost 45 years on the job. He worked to cover the courts, crime and corruption in Las Vegas.

He was reportedly found dead outside his residence.

Surveillance video revealed an unusually dressed suspect, wearing a large hat, orange construction jacket, black pants and gray sneakers, carrying a duffel bag and driving a wine-red SUV.

The SUV would have put Telles on the suspect list.

During a search of Robert Telles’s residence, police reportedly found an SUV as well as cut-out pieces of a straw hat and a gray sneaker, leading to his arrest.

According to prosecutors, Telles killed German after losing the primary for a second term, blaming the journalist as the cause.

In handing down his sentence, the judge stressed that this type of “political violence” was “unacceptable and dangerous”.

The jury deliberated for three days before finding Robert Telles guilty.

The judge chose to add eight years to the maximum sentence he could impose, due to the use of a deadly weapon in an intentional, deliberate and premeditated murder.

Telles will be eligible for parole… at the age of 73.