University of Alaska Board of Regents member and former Fairbanks mayor Jim Hayes has been targeted for investigation by the FBI, which sent 30 agent to search Hayes' home Jan. 10 as well as the Lily of the Valley Pentecostal Church, where Hayes is minister, and its offshoot, LOVE Social Services Center, reported the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.

Hayes and his organization have also come under increased scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which administers some ofthe $2.9 million dollars in funding that has been earmarked for LOVE Social Services by Alaska Senator Ted Stevens since 2000. An employee of the department told the News-Miner that any attempts by LOVE to access unspent funds must now be approved by the department's Alaska office and by the department's head office in Washington DC.

The FBI has not openly discussed the purpose of its investigation, but it appears that the subject is the possible misuse of those federal funds. LOVE used $375,000 of the money to buy Lily of the Valley's church building. After the sale, Lily of the Valley built a new, $2.1 million dollar building next door.

LOVE's executive director is Chris Hayes, Jim Hayes' ex-wife and daughter of Lily of the Valley's founders, and the center is staffed mostly by relatives and by high-ranking administrative members of Lily of the Valley. Stevens told the News-Miner that LOVE was formed to meet the needs of Lily of the Valley's parishioners, who are "largely low-income military families." The center's website says that it is "a non profit organization dedicated to the assistance of disadvantaged youth and adult education."

In addition to serving on the UA Board of Regents, Hayes was Fairbanks mayor for three terms, from 1992 to 2001, and also sat on the City Council and School Board.

Hayes moved from Sacramento, California to Fairbanks at the age of seven, and graduated from University of Alaska Fairbanks in 1970 with a BA in Education. He was honored as a "Distinguished Alumnus" in 2002, and appointed to the Board of Regents by Governor Frank Murkowski in 2003.

Hayes' son James Hayes graduated from UAF in 1999 with a degree in Political Science and went on to intern for Ted Stevens.

It is not clear whether the investigation will affect Hayes position on the Board of Regents. "Hayes is well liked and well respected," said UA Office of Public Affairs Director Kate Ripley, and added that for the university to comment on the investigation would be "inappropriate speculation."