Wakeeney ? Trego County Sheriff Curt Bender has resigned after it was made public that the Kansas Bureau of Investigation was investigating him.

The nature of the KBI’s investigation has not been disclosed. Authorities searched the sheriff’s home March 25, but are not saying what they found.

Bender’s attorney, Paul Oller, said his client submitted a two-paragraph resignation letter Wednesday morning to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and Trego County Clerk Kathleen Conness.

The resignation was effective at noon the same day.

Oller would not explain what the KBI was investigating, but acknowledged the inquiry prompted Bender to resign.

“Because of the uncertainty concerning when the investigation might conclude or what the result of the investigation might be, Bender chose to resign,” Oller said.

In a letter to WaKeeney’s weekly newspaper, Western Kansas World, Bender said he was confident that he would be vindicated and said he was innocent “of these charges.”

County Atty. Dave Harding said Conness would hold the title of sheriff until a replacement for Bender was found, but duties of the office would be handled by Undersheriff Chad Mann.

The Trego County Democratic Party will search for a replacement for Bender, who is a Democrat, and make its recommendation to Sebelius.

“We’re going to do it just as soon as possible,” said Sandra Stenzel, the county Democratic chairwoman.

With Bender’s resignation, Mann remains as the only officer on patrol. The Sheriff’s Office has one other deputy, but he is at the law enforcement training academy in Hutchinson. Officers from the WaKeeney Police Department promised to help.