A Las Vegas choose and mom of three killed herself a yr after leaving her place to keep away from a sophisticated ethics probe that started over what she mentioned was her try to avoid wasting her daughter from prostitution.
Melanie Andress-Tobiasson, 53, who stepped down as a Justice of the Peace earlier than a listening to relating to her ethics investigation, was reportedly discovered lifeless by suicide Friday, 8NewsNow reported. The outlet didn’t present particulars about how she died.
The choose charged that pimps had been “targeting the daughters of judges and law enforcement” to recruit them into prostitution.
Andress-Tobiasson was being investigated by Nevada’s Judicial Discipline Commission for nearly two years earlier than she agreed to resign in 2021.
Her issues started when her daughter Sarah, then 16, began working at a clothes retailer that Andress-Tobiasson claimed was a entrance for prison actions and tried to cease it, first by reporting the difficulty to the police, the Daily Mail reported. She mentioned the shop, Top Knotch, was concerned with prostitution and making an attempt to recruit her daughter.
She known as out Las Vegas cops for ignoring details about the alleged intercourse trafficking on the retailer. She claimed that the shop was an unlicensed, underage nightclub and added that she was “terrified” of Shane Valentine, who ran the shop on the time.
When The Post reached her daughter, Sarah Tobiasson, now 23, on Saturday, she hung up.
Andress-Tobiasson mentioned she needed to go to the FBI with the data after being ignored by native police — which resulted in officers investigating her for allegedly breaching judicial guidelines by making an allegation to federal brokers.
A criticism filed in opposition to Andress-Tobiasson alleged that she did not adjust to and uphold the legislation, and allowed household pursuits and relations to affect her conduct, the Daily Mail reported.
Andress-Tobiasson requested cops to look into Valentine however mentioned they ignored her claims. Valentine was later linked to a taking pictures the place a pair was discovered lifeless.
They didn’t formally hyperlink him to the killings of Sydney Land, 21, and Nehemiah “Neo” Kauffman, 20, till months later, in response to the Daily Mail.
But Andress-Tobiasson contacted Land’s mom and “began to personally investigate the case” as a result of she thought that Valentine was accountable, the criticism acknowledged.
It added that she used “burner phones” to contact Land’s mom and despatched texts to a different lady she thought was concerned within the homicide.
The fee alleged that Andress-Tobiasson acknowledged publicly that she reached out to Valentine’s lawyer on the time and “told him to tell Valentine that if he called her daughter again, she would ‘take care of it herself,’” and that one time she “went to Shane Valentine’s house and kicked in the door.”
Detectives realized of Andress-Tobiasson’s exercise, in response to the fees, and launched an investigation into the choose, going so far as monitoring her cellphone data.
They additionally alleged that she had hyperlinks to a person known as “Anthony Danna” who was a “known and documented organized crime figure.”
Andress-Tobiasson lived together with her husband, Todd, in a $2 million mansion with a pool on the time of her dying.
If you’re combating suicidal ideas or are experiencing a psychological well being disaster and dwell in New York City, you’ll be able to name 1-888-NYC-WELL without cost and confidential disaster counseling. If you reside exterior the 5 boroughs, you’ll be able to dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.
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