LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Before former Public Administrator Robert Telles was charged with the murder of Las Vegas Review Journal reporter Jeff German, county staffers who worked for Telles asked for help.
As 13 Investigates found, the responses they got may shock you.
"The first year he was in the office, he had episodes of what I would call pure rage," says Assistant Public Administrator Rita Reid. "And it would be the smallest little thing that would set him off. And it was totally unfounded and, you know, unprovoked."
Reid voted for Telles in 2019. This year, she ran against him and won in the Democratic primary. Reid says her about-face was directly due to Telles' behavior.
"There were signs that he might do something harmful," she says.
Running for the elected position to lead the office wasn't Reid's idea. It was a last resort after she says employees' complaints to the County about Telles fell on deaf ears.
"Somebody in H.R. said, 'Well, maybe somebody should run for office.' And we were....that was really disheartening. We were hoping to make it better without that kind of a huge leap."
Video on the Review-Journal's website shows Telles and a female subordinate getting out of the backseat of her car in a mall parking garage. Employees say Telles' alleged affair with that subordinate created an imbalance of power and a toxic, hostile work environment in the Public Administrator's office.
They say Telles was a bully who ruled the office through fear and intimidation, often behaving irrationally and preventing employees from doing the public's business.
When they filed complaints with the County, they were hoping for intervention and a simple outcome.
"Couldn't somebody just let this person know this is not proper behavior?" asks Reid. "It's not professional, it's not appropriate."
Investigator Janelle Lea started working at the Public Administrator's office in 2020.
"I found it to be very solemn," says Janelle. "And I thought, well, maybe that's just the nature of the job and what we're dealing with."
But during her training, Janelle says she realized employees were living in fear after she tried to question a co-worker.
" And she's like, 'no, we can't talk. We're not allowed to talk. I'll get in trouble. Please don't talk to me.'"
She says that wasn't an isolated incident.
"I watched people shake when he would come to work," Janelle explains. "And I befriended a couple of them and they confided in me and I thought, you know, I don't need this. And I left the job for a while."
A few months later, she felt compelled to return. She supported her co-workers as they turned to Jeff German to expose Telles after they say their complaints to the County went nowhere.
Darcy Spears: "What were employees expecting when Jeff German's articles started to be published?"
Janelle: "I think they expected the County to step up and take heed. That maybe with some public, you know, awareness, that that might force their hand to take a closer look at what was really happening," Janelle says. "We lost Jeff because nobody listened."
"I wish the county people would have done their job as human resources," says local attorney Christian Gabroy who specializes in employment law. "I wish the county people, who we paid for, would have stepped in because then this predator could have had his head cut off like a snake where it belongs."
Gabroy says the County failed, likening its response to an ostrich with its head in the sand.
"We see nothing. We hear nothing. We know nothing," Gabroy explains. "But in all actuality, there is information that is provided. There is knowledge that is provided. There is documentation that is provided. But that institutional failure that occurs with these type of predators is pervasive."
Janelle says she gave first-hand accounts to a Clark County H.R. representative about Telles getting aggressive with staffers and about his bizarre and threatening social media posts.
"And their response to me was, 'Your best bet is to make sure he doesn't get reelected.'"
Darcy Spears; "And as far as your experience was, you didn't see anything change?"
Janelle: "No. I saw it get worse."
Darcy: "Got worse?"
Janelle: "I saw employees get more depressed and scared."
Rita says Telles' attitude towards the citizens his office was supposed to serve was also problematic. She recounts one incident when she asked Telles for permission to accommodate a man traveling from out-of-state who's mother had passed away.
"He refused to let me come in on a Saturday--at no additional cost to the taxpayers--to meet this man, to turn over his mother's property," Rita explains, forcing the man to risk his new job by staying in Las Vegas through the following Monday. She recalls Telles' callous comment from later that day. "'See? I told you he could do it if you just made him.'"
Rita explains, "We had the tools to make a very difficult situation better for him and his family. And we were not allowed to do it."
She told the County about that, too. Their response?
"He's an elected official in the county. There's not much they can do," she says. "I was told that my options were, you know, 'How close are you to retirement?'"
"If the institution protects that type of individual, we're no better than a Venezuela. We're no better than a Cuba. We're no better than a Russia, because that allows that corrupted official to harm those individuals," says Gabroy. "No elected official and no person is above the law in the United States."
We asked Gabroy about something else the County reportedly told employees--that Telles' behavior didn't rise to a level of discrimination or retaliation where intervention was possible.
Gabroy says the allegation of Telles having an affair with a subordinate should have been enough.
"The after-effects that flow from that and permeate from that--the fruit of the poisonous tree in the employment sector--it creates that type of environment and creates that type of division that the law is supposed to protec," says Gabroy. "And it's a shame. It's a real shame, the harm that's been done."
Citing confidentiality needs with their H.R. reporting process, Clark County declined our request to talk on-camera about these issues for this report.
They provided the following statement instead:
"On behalf of the 10,000 employees of Clark County, the organization has a formal reporting process for employees to raise workplace concerns. In doing so, Clark County's Human Resource and Office of Diversity departments thoroughly investigate each report and provide the appropriate follow-up action, including discipline, if deemed appropriate. Due the confidential nature of this process, the County is unable to comment on the specific allegations raised by some employees in the department of Public Administrator, though these employees are able to share their personal perspectives. While it is true that Clark County is not able to remove an elected official from office unless a judge or a grand jury finds cause for removal, the County's role to ensure all employees are able to work in a safe and productive environment allows for appropriate measures to be taken, when determined to be necessary, even if the department head is an elected official. Clark County has taken the appropriate steps when complaints were received through our formal reporting channels to investigate and address the complaints as appropriate."
The county's statement continues:
"2020 - a report was received by an employee in the department of Public Administrator. The report was thoroughly investigated and the report was addressed with the applicable employees in the office, including Mr. Telles. No other complaints were filed."
"2022 - no complaints were filed prior to the Review Journal reporting on conduct and behavior in the department of Public Administrator. A third-party contractor was brought in by the County to sever the reporting relationship between Mr. Telles and the employees in the department of Public Administrator. Following the RJ story, some employee complaints were received. The complaints received by Clark County's Human Resource's department have been investigated and addressed as appropriate with the applicable employees. The County continues to investigate complaints made to the Office of Diversity."
"To date, no reports of workplace violence have been alleged or received through formal reporting channels. As part of the investigative process, employees are reminded of their rights, including that they are protected from retaliation and that they can request to be added to the organization's transfer list to be moved into another department and position for which they are qualified."
Rita Reid sent this response to the above statement from Clark County:
The County’s public comment that you shared with me yesterday did not come as a surprise. This has been another difficult week of reminders of a horrific crime and painful loss - an unnecessary loss - of Jeff German, an individual who was willing to hold a light up to the darkness and take a close look inside to see what may need to improve. It took courage to do what he did and maybe all of us can learn from his final acts of service to our community. I and others will continue trying to live by Jeff’s example and be as courageous as possible, even at times of disappointment.
