Madison, Neb. ? A phone tap was used in a federal investigation that includes Madison County Atty. Joe Smith, U.S. Atty. Mike Heavican said.

Smith said the FBI was involved and he had asked a friend, Omaha attorney James Martin Davis, to look into the matter. Smith referred further questions to Davis.

Heavican said he believed a cellular telephone belonging to Smith had been tapped between Sept. 23, 2004, and April 4, but that did not mean a wire tap had been in place that entire time.

The investigation became public when an Omaha TV reporter said she had been contacted by Heavican’s office about a telephone call she made to Smith, Heavican said.

Heavican’s office had sent a notice to the reporter because investigators eventually must notify people whose calls have been intercepted, Heavican said.

Heavican declined to say what the investigation was about.

Davis told the Omaha World-Herald that the wiretaps were related to federal indictments of six people on charges of distributing methamphetamine.

Two of those indicted were acquaintances of Smith, Davis said.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that there will be no federal prosecution of Joe Smith,” Davis said.

Davis did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment that were left with his answering service Saturday by The Associated Press.

Smith gained statewide notice when he prosecuted murder charges against four men accused of killing five people at a bank in Norfolk on Sept. 26, 2002. All four men – Jose Sandoval, Erick Vela, Jorge Galindo and Gabriel Rodriguez – were convicted.