Local judge commits suicide after a crusade alleging police ties to a trafficking ring

Judge Melanie Andress-Tobiasson is dead of suicide and it's suspected to be linked to a two-year ethics investigation into her personal crusade to pressure the police force to investigate sex trafficking at her daughter's retail store.

KLAS News explained that it began a few years ago when Andress-Tobiasson told Las Vegas Metro Police that there was a group of murders that were linked to the sex trade in the city and that they failed to act.

An earlier report alleged on KLAS-TV said that pimps were targeting the children of police officers and judges.

“They didn’t care what I was telling them because they already knew what was going on,” Tobiasson said at the time, claiming the prostitution racket is a business arrangement linked to the Metro police to help the hotel industry. She also claimed that the politicians who claim to be fighting the sex trade are just paying a lip service to the public.

Andress-Tobiasson said that her daughter was trying to buy a fake ID when the person making them tried to recruit her daughter into the prostitution trade.

“My daughter was terrified that if ‘Shane’ learned that she had given me this information, he would kill her,” the judge claimed in 2016. The man appeared to be the same one who "pimped" the daughter of Judge Michelle Leavitt. That judge's daughter testified that she was beaten by two other women while "Shane" watched.

"Police later tracked Tobiasson’s phone, saying she was interfering with a vice investigation, according to the complaint," the KLAS report said. "The FBI was conducting its own investigation into the unit at the same time, the 8 News Now Investigators uncovered. They later closed the case without charging any officer."

The Nevada Current reported that in Oct. 2016, Tobiasson, met with Vice Lt. Karen Hughes, who is now retired. Tobiasson lamented that the other officers had ignored her fears and concerns. One of the people named by the judge at the time was her daughter's best friend, who was the daughter of a Metro officer.

“Shortly after this conversation, she (Tobiasson) learned on Oct. 25 Vice detectives interviewed a LVMPD officer and his juvenile daughter regarding her suspected involvement in prostitution," said a memo from Captain Todd Raybuck to Sheriff Lombardo. "Det. VANCLEEF informed Tobiasson that during the interview Det. (Justine) GADUS told the juvenile and her father that Judge Tobiasson made the allegations of the involvement in prostitution – despite her numerous requests to remain confidential. As a result, Tobiasson became very concerned for her daughter’s safety and well being believing that her daughter now had a “target” on her and that her life might be in jeopardy.”

After midnight on Oct. 26, after Detective Gadus revealed Tobiasson's comments and who her daughter was, an "up and coming pimp" Nehemiah Kauffman and his girlfriend, Sydney Land were executed. Land was the daughter of a Clark County fire captain. “

"Yeah I think it was Shane. I know it was because Neyo was pimping. And making good money. And Shane was like, nah, N*gga you ain’t gonna come disrespect like that watch your back," said the daughter of the Metro officer. "Like I’ve talked to 2 Detectives. Not once (sic) ounce of evidence…. And he’s in Cali. He ran. To Cali. I know he killed him."

After spending years sounding the alarm about it Tobiasson was pressed with ethics charges for cursing on the bench and wearing a shirt that was deemed inappropriate.

A five-year probe into police misconduct resulted in the arrest of a pimp and no police.