A private investigator who does work on behalf of the Church of Scientology is being sought by Tampa police in a case that features a bizarre claim about the Pasco County sheriff.

The investigator, a former Los Angeles police officer named Eugene Martin Ingram, is accused of impersonating a Hillsborough County sheriff's detective. Tampa police say Ingram was quizzing a woman about an alleged prostitution ring that he said involved Pasco County Sheriff Lee Cannon.

Police also have investigated Matt Bratschi, a reporter for the church publication Freedom magazine. Bratschi, who has not been charged, is believed by police to have accompanied Ingram on the interview. (...)