Female Las Vegas judge committdd suicide Friday, a year after being forced to resign to avoid ethics probe

Married mom-of-three Melanie Andress-Tobiasson told cops clothes shop where her daughter worked was sex-trafficking hub

Melanie Andress-Tobiasson, 53, turned to feds after accusing Las Vegas Metro Police of ignoring information she provided, claiming

Vegas police instead, tracking her phone and claiming she was interfering with a vice investigation following her original complaint

She claimed he was trying to save her daughter from sex trafficking

She was forced to resign after becoming embroiled in an ethics probe

The investigation by Nevada’s Judicial Discipline Commission lasted for almost two years before her resignation  

A Las Vegas judge has committed suicide a year after stepping down from her role to avoid becoming embroiled in an ethics probe.
Melanie Andress-Tobiasson stepped down as a Justice of the Peace prior to a a hearing regarding her ethics investigation. The mother-of-three was reportedly found dead on Friday, according to 8NewsNow. The manner of her death has not been made public.
Andress-Tobiasson, 53, claimed that she had been trying to save her teenage daughter, Sarah, from prostitution after she started working at a clothing store she believed was a front for criminal activities.  The former judge believed it was a front for prostitution.
The trial into her alleged conduct was dropped after she agreed to resign in 2021.  

The judge who lived in her $2million five-bedroom mansion in Las Vegas with her husband Todd, before her death, was being investigated by Nevada’s Judicial Discipline Commission for almost two years, after asking police to investigate a clothing store where her daughter worked.
The former judge made claims that the store, Top Knotch, was being used as a front for prostitution and her daughter Sarah was being recruited as a prostitute.
She accused the Las Vegas Metro Police Department for ignoring information she provided about possible sex-trafficking by the business, claiming she was trying to save her daughter from sex trafficking.
Judge Tobiasson claimed that the store was an unlicensed, underage nightclub and a front for prostitution, adding that her daughter Sarah, who was 16 at the time, was ‘terrified’ of Shane Valentine, the person who ran the store.

Tobiasson said that she was forced to turn to the FBI with the information by the inaction of the local police – which led to officers investigating her for allegedly breaching judicial rules after discovering she had repeated claims to federal agents.
She accused the Las Vegas Metro Police Department for ignoring information she provided, trying to save her daughter from sex trafficking.
Police frowned at her turning to the Feds with the information after the inaction of the local police, with Vegas police instead, tracking her phone and claiming she was interfering with a vice investigation following her original complaint.

Her complaint stated that the pimps were ‘targeting the daughters of judges and law enforcement’ in a bid to get them involved in prostitution. 
However, a complaint of nepotism filed against Tobiasson, alleges she failed to comply with and uphold the law, and allowed family interests and relations to influence her conduct.
She had asked officers to investigate Shane Valentine, but claims they failed to do so, with the suspect then being linked to a shooting where a couple were found dead.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police did not officially link Valentine to the killings of Sydney Land, 21, and Nehemiah ‘Neo’ Kauffman, 20, until months later.
Tobiasson reached out to Sydney Land’s mother and ‘began to personally investigate the case’ because she thought that Valentine was responsible, according to the complaint.
It added that she used ‘burner phones’ to communicate with Land’s mother and sent messages to a woman she thought was involved in the murder.

The commission alleges that Tobiasson stated publicly that she reached out to Valentine’s lawyer at the time and ‘told him to tell Valentine that if he called her daughter again she would ‘take care of it herself’ and that on one occasion she ‘went to Shane Valentine’s house and kicked in the door.’
Detectives learned of Tobiasson’s activity, according to the charges, and launched an investigation into the judge, going as far as tracking her phone records.
They also alleged that she had links to a man called ‘Anthony Danna’ who was a ‘known and documented organized crime figure.’

The Judicial Discipline Commission decided against suspending Tobiasson and Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Amy Chelini after a hearing about concerns over profanity used off the bench and administrative complaints involving court clerks.
However as part of a deal her resignation resulted in her ethics trial being stopped when she stepped down from her role.