North Dakota's Highway Patrol is investigating whether the state's workers compensation agency illegally used driver's license photos to try to identify an employee who was distributing agency salary information.

Capt. Mark Bethke, commander of the patrol's Bismarck district, said Monday he was unsure when the probe would be completed. Once it is wrapped up, its findings will be presented to the Burleigh County state's attorney, Bethke said.

"We have a number of things to look into," Bethke said.

A recent state audit of the Workforce Safety and Insurance agency detailed what auditors said was improper use of digital driver's license photos obtained from the state Department of Transportation.

WSI fraud investigators used at least one driver's license photo to attempt to track down an employee who was e-mailing agency payroll figures, the audit said. The salaries of state employees are open records.

The e-mail was traced to a public library computer, and investigators later visited the library with photos to see if anyone could identify who had sent it.

Driver's license photos are not public records, and are considered "highly restricted personal information" under state law. However, it is unclear whether violating the law has any criminal penalty.

Workforce Safety and Insurance has a contract with the DOT to access its photos for restricted purposes, but Keith Magnusson, a Transportation Department deputy director, said he believed the WSI agency's use of the images was improper.

Sandy Blunt, director of Workforce Safety and Insurance, has contended the photos' use complied with the Transportation Department contract. Mark Armstrong, a WSI spokesman, declined comment Monday on the investigation.

The contract expires Jan. 7. Magnusson said he intended to arrange a meeting with WSI officials to discuss their use of driver's license photos.

"What's in the (audit), I don't think that, in itself, is a criminal offense," Magnusson said. "But I don't think that sort of thing was contemplated in our agreement with them."

Workforce Safety and Insurance provides medical, wage and rehabilitation benefits for employees who are injured on the job. Businesses are required to buy coverage, and are protected from injury-related worker lawsuits in exchange.

The audit also discovered instances where state procurement, contracting and hiring rules weren't followed. A Bismarck man, Ed Christensen, wrote letters to Richard Riha, the Burleigh County state's attorney, and Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, using the findings to ask both men to open a criminal investigation into WSI's operations. They refused.