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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Beaver County Sheriff Kenneth Yardley, already under investigation for possible use of county jail inmates to remodel his home, now also is being investigated by the FBI to determine if he had an inappropriate relationship with a woman inmate.
FBI agents were in Beaver earlier this month to inquire about several issues involving the sheriff, among them his relationship with a Beaver woman, now 37, who was at the jail from December 2002 to April 2003, The Salt Lake Tribune reported in a copyright story Friday.
The agents reportedly obtained a letter the woman wrote to her daughter in which she talks about the sheriff taking her out of jail for a ride in the mountains.
They also have interviewed Lena Vanfleet, a former inmate who shared a cell with the Beaver woman.
The Tribune said neither Yardley nor the FBI would discuss the investigation.
Vanfleet told the newspaper that during the women's incarceration, Yardley would take them outside the jail to jog. She said that on about four occasions, Yardley and the woman would remain under an overpass while Vanfleet kept running.
The FBI first contacted Vanfleet last week by telephone and visited her at her home earlier this week, she said.
County Attorney Von Christiansen said two FBI agents visited him Feb. 10, and said they were investigating allegations of misconduct by Yardley. He did not disclose details.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
