LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Robert Telles, the former public official accused in the September 2022 stabbing death of Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German, filed a court motion on June 3 seeking the dismissal of a civil lawsuit filed by women who worked in his office.
In a 135-page motion to dismiss, Telles characterizes the complaints against him as lies, offering text messages and office communications to prove he was succeeding in turning around a broken office operation.
His accusers, he says, each have their own motivation for their claims alleging discrimination, sexual harassment and hostile work conditions.
Jessica Coleman, Aleisha Goodwin, Noraine Pagdanganan and Rita Reid filed a federal lawsuit on May 17. Telles’ request for dismissal was filed on June 3. He is scheduled to go to trial on criminal charges in German’s death in early August.
Telles, 47, ran the Clark County Public Administrator’s Office (PAO), supervising a team that administers the estates of residents who die without an executor or next of kin to handle the tasks.
After a series of articles about the work environment at PAO, Telles lost his re-election bid. One of the articles exposed a possible inappropriate relationship with a subordinate. Telles lost in the primary election to Reid in June of 2022. Prosecutors say he blamed his loss on German’s negative news coverage.
Telles says he was framed, and the motion to dismiss disparages his accusers. He also argues some of the claims exceed statutes of limitations.
The court document describes Reid — who went on to win election as PAO after beating Telles in the primary — as a micromanager who couldn’t stand seeing Telles change policies she created. He argues that Reid failed to offer sufficient evidence of age and sex discrimination complaints.
Pagdanganan earned almost double her salary by working overtime before Telles took over the office and shut that down, according to exhibits Telles offers from the Transparent Nevada website. Telles argues she failed to offer proof that workplace retaliation for limiting overtime opportunities occurred. He was just making the office efficient, he said.
Coleman’s allegations of sex discrimination and race discrimination don’t meet legal requirements, according to the motion to dismiss.
And Goodwin’s claims of sex discrimination and religious discrimination aren’t proven, the motion stated.
It all boils down to office politics, professional jealousy and a workplace strained by the COVID shutdown, according to the motion to dismiss.
Exhibits show Telles didn’t want negativity in the workplace. He includes text message exchanges, office memos and other documents that describe his direction to the staff.
“What do you want to be your legacy? Will someone who causes discord and dissatisfaction be happy looking back? I should hope not. In any case, we cannot tolerate poor attitudes. Our work is too important for that,” according to a staff memo dated Saturday, July 10, 2021.
“If you are the subject of any negative behavior or you see any such behavior, it should be reported to me immediately to be addressed.”
