Sheriff Confirms Internal Investigation in Fleiss Case : Scandal: A spokesman says the action is not related to the criminal inquiry into the alleged call girl ring. The LAPD earlier said one of its officers is under scrutiny.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed Thursday that it has launched an administrative investigation of an employee whose contacts with accused madam Heidi Fleiss have drawn suspicion.

“The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is currently conducting an administrative investigation to determine whether a member of this department acted inappropriately in connection with the Heidi Fleiss case,” the Sheriff’s Department statement said. “At the present time, there is no information to indicate that this investigation is related to the criminal case.”

Fleiss, in her first public comment on the internal affairs probe, said Thursday that her only contact with sheriff’s deputies came about five months ago when she met with two deputies at her house to lodge a complaint about her ex-boyfriend, television and movie director Ivan Nagy, and his associates. The deputies paid her a visit at the request of a mutual friend, she said. During that time, Fleiss’ residence apparently was under surveillance by other law enforcement agencies.

Sources have told The Times that at least one deputy and one Los Angeles Police Department officer has been investigated, but Thursday’s statement by the Sheriff’s Department was that agency’s first official confirmation. Cmdr. David J. Gascon, LAPD spokesman, earlier confirmed that the Police Department is investigating administrative charges against an officer of that department.

The LAPD investigation does not involve officers in the administrative vice unit, sources said.

Neither the deputy nor the officer have been identified, and the allegations against them are not being made public. Law enforcement sources have said that suspicion has apparently focused on whether the officer or deputy worked as a driver or security for Fleiss, who is accused of operating an upscale prostitution ring.

Thursday, LAPD sources offered conflicting versions of that account, with some saying that the allegations against the LAPD officer involved only his relationship with a prostitute, not services allegedly performed for Fleiss.

But Fleiss said Thursday that she was questioned in June for two hours by LAPD Internal Affairs investigators who wanted to know if she had had sex with officers or had ever employed any as bodyguards or drivers. She said no on both counts and charged that such allegations were planted by Nagy.

Fleiss, the 27-year-old daughter of a prominent Los Angeles pediatrician, pleaded not guilty this week to pandering and narcotics charges. Nagy also has been arrested on suspicion of pandering.

As investigators continued their work on the case, the media frenzy spread. In Japan, the press has begun churning out steamy coverage, with one publication devoting a full page to the Fleiss affair.

Back in the United States, Fleiss denied a report, published Thursday in the New York Post, that her alleged employees had shown up at a birthday party for the son of actor James Caan. She said she “may have” met the actor but scarcely knew him, and blamed those suggestions on the Nagy camp as well.

Caan told the Associated Press: “It’s not true! I’ve had enough bad publicity in my career. I don’t need this. I’ve got a wife and 2-year-old baby. I don’t go out and party. I don’t want to be trashed.”

The celebrity circus continued with an appearance by Nagy on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” where Nagy said he suspects Fleiss may have had something to do with shots fired at his home.

Also on the talk show circuit was rock star Billy Idol, who appeared the “Tonight Show,” where host Jay Leno promised to put his silver-booted feet to the fire and make him “tell all” about Fleiss. In the end, Idol didn’t tell much: “We used to go around her house and watch television.”

“Maybe order a pizza and maybe play Yahtzee ?” an incredulous Leno pressed on, suggesting that this was the first time he had seen a rock star deny having sex with someone.

“I didn’t say that,” Idol shot back. “I said I never paid for it.”

Leno, who lives near Fleiss’ Benedict Canyon home, joked that Idol was an early morning fixture in the neighborhood. “I thought you must have a paper route around here,” said Leno, before griping about the helicopters and news crews that have recently invaded the block.

Fleiss, in an interview with The Times, said she was sorry that her neighbors have had to endure the paparazzi siege outside her Benedict Canyon home.

“I felt so bad that I snuck out at 1 a.m. on Monday night and wrote handwritten notes of apology to all my neighbors, telling them how sorry I was for the noise and disruption,” she said. “But I ran out of stationery after the first eight notes.”

Law enforcement agencies have buckled under the deluge of press interest in the splashy case, which has teetered between extremes of comedy and misfortune. At the LAPD’s administrative vice unit, officers said they were instructed to stop answering questions about the case, instead referring all calls to Gascon.

“This has become a total feeding frenzy,” Gascon said. “It has overwhelmed all of our systems.”

A televised report linked a recent shooting in Malibu to upscale prostitution, but LAPD sources said that case does not appear to be related to Fleiss.

The media onslaught also has led the Sheriff’s Department to release apparently contradictory statements about the March 2 death of a 22-year-old Tarzana woman named Laurie Dolan, who overdosed on drugs and was taken to the hospital by an associate of Fleiss and Nagy.

On Tuesday, the department said it was investigating Dolan’s death and it reiterated that statement Wednesday. Thursday, however, Sheriff’s Department officials said the investigation has been closed since March, when the coroner pronounced the death accidental. Authorities say they have no reason to believe that Dolan was a prostitute.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, addressing the case for the first time, said it raises some questions about how the Police Department should prioritize its crime-fighting efforts.

“Should you be going after . . . people in this situation? That’s a legitimate issue,” Riordan said. Times staff writers Marc Lacey, Faye Fiore and Teresa Watanabe contributed to this story. Lacey and Fiore contributed from Los Angeles; Watanabe from Tokyo.