Robert Telles says he was under surveillance in bribery investigation

Former Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles said Thursday that he was under police surveillance in a bribery investigation before he was arrested in connection with the killing of Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German.

Telles is representing himself against a murder charge in connection with German’s killing. Prosecutors have accused Telles of fatally stabbing German outside the reporter’s home in September over articles German had written about Telles’ conduct as an elected official.

During a court hearing Thursday, Telles argued for prosecutors to give him documents and records he says will prove police misconduct in the case. One of his requests was for evidence of surveillance Telles said detectives conducted on him prior to German’s killing.

“There is prior surveillance that was done in what I had mentioned before was a sham investigation, supposedly investigating me for bribery of a public officer,” he said.

In a jailhouse interview Thursday evening, Telles said he learned about the bribery investigation through records he already has received from prosecutors as part of the discovery process. He said he did not have further details, and that the records did not indicate why he was being investigated.

“I’ve never bribed another person or never received bribes,” Telles said.

When asked to confirm the existence of the bribery investigation, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Department said in an emailed statement that the department does not “comment on open investigations.”

The Review-Journal has previously reported that police were investigating allegations that Telles orchestrated a house-flipping scheme to profit from property sales handled by the public administrator’s office.

He was alleged to have run the scheme between 2020 and when he was arrested on a murder charge in September.

Telles has alleged that he was the victim of police misconduct in prior court filings and in a complaint to the Clark County Citizen Review Board. In May, the board referred the complaint to the Police Department’s internal affairs division before making a final decision.

He has claimed that during the investigation into German’s killing, police illegally tracked his phone and didn’t properly request search warrants. Telles also has alleged that he was framed, and that what prosecutors have called “overwhelming evidence” against him was planted at his home.

Prosecutors have said that Telles’ DNA was found under German’s fingernails, and that police found clothing and pieces of a shoe at Telles’ home that matched items worn by a suspect shown in surveillance footage wandering the reporter’s neighborhood the day he was killed.

Telles said Thursday that he believes he has not been provided with all of the records of police surveilling him.

“I want to see all this information that they’ve got because they may actually have my alibi for me,” he said.

On Thursday, District Judge Michelle Leavitt told prosecutors to provide Telles with evidence he has yet to receive through the discovery process.

She also told Telles that some of the information he seeks may be in the possession of the Police Department instead of prosecutors.

Leavitt ordered Telles to appear in court again on July 19 for a status hearing.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.