Clark County audit finds 1,892-case backlog and weak vault oversight in the public administrator's office

What happened

A 27-page audit of the Clark County public administrator's office found a large case backlog, gaps in how stored property is tracked and weak controls over who can reach it, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. The office manages the estates of people in Clark County who die without a will.

The review was produced by the Clark County Audit Department, led by Director Angela Darragh, and covered 2024 through the middle of this year. It identified eight areas of concern and made 23 recommendations, according to the Review-Journal.

What the auditors found

The office received $2.5 million in taxpayer money for fiscal 2027 and has 29 employees, 16 of them full time. As of July 28, it had 1,892 open cases that had been open for an average of 1,118 days, the audit found, and slow casework has meant property is held longer.

Six high-risk findings

Auditors rated six of the eight findings as high risk, meaning an immediate or significant threat. Besides the backlog, they found $623,000 in service fees collected between March 2024 and July 7, 2026, that were not properly transferred to the county.

The office was also storing 105 human and six pet cremains as of June, and 63 percent of the 105 human urns had been held for two years or more. The Review-Journal noted that Nevada law lets crematories dispose of unclaimed remains after two years, but the agency's own regulations do not.

Vault property and access

The office has no enforced formal policy for inventorying property in its vault and produced only two limited vault audits, in 2024 and 2025, according to the report. During a random check in June, auditors could not find every listed item, including a laptop taken into custody in 2020. They also found non-vault staff using keys to reach property, including one person who was not a county employee.

Welfare checks and other issues

In two 2026 cases, staff went 70 days between residence welfare checks, beyond the 30-day standard, the audit found. In one, the home was described as compromised and the person's car was missing. Lack of property documentation was rated medium risk, and employees working before taking required oaths of office was the only low-risk finding.

Why the office has drawn scrutiny

The audit came out four years after then-Public Administrator Robert Telles killed Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German, who had covered alleged corruption in Telles' office. Telles was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced in 2024 to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 2050, the Review-Journal reported.

The race to lead the office

Current Public Administrator Rita Reid is not seeking re-election this fall and did not respond to requests for comment from The Center Square, according to the article. Democrat Stephanie Itkin-Goodman and Republican Michael Murphy are competing for the seat. More on local contests is in our elections coverage.

Murphy, Clark County coroner from 2002 to 2015, pointed to that job and 11 months he spent in the public administrator's office in 2022. "I think the audit is timely and that it's something that needed to be done," he said, adding he would use it as a roadmap.

Itkin-Goodman, an attorney and Nevada deputy attorney general who moved from New York five years ago, said the office needs fundamental reform rather than a continuation of past practices. "Clark County families deserve answers, not excuses," she said.

What to watch next

• Whether Itkin-Goodman or Murphy is elected to replace Reid as public administrator this fall.
• Action on the audit's 23 recommendations, including benchmarks for closing cases on time.
• Whether the $623,000 in service fees flagged by auditors is transferred to the county as recommended.
• Changes to vault inventories and limits on storage access to authorized employees.