Police say Condit not central to Levy case

Assistant chief says polygraph not likely

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Rep. Gary Condit is not the central figure to the investigation into a missing intern who he reportedly had an affair with, District of Columbia police said Monday, and will mostly likely not be required to take an official polygraph test.

"Our interest in the congressman has been because of an obvious relationship that he could give insight into Chandra Levy," D.C. Assistant Police Chief Terrance Gainer told CNN. "The congressman, although interesting to a lot of people, is not the central figure to this nor is his wife."

Condit, D-California, a 53-year-old married father, had a romantic relationship with Chandra Levy, a 24-year-old former U.S. Bureau of Prisons intern, police sources said. The congressman said he was just friends with Levy, who is from his congressional district.

EXTRA INFORMATION Key players   Interactive timeline   Profile: Gary Condit     RESOURCES Map of Levy search area   Message board: The case of the missing intern

Levy has been missing for over three months. Condit is one of more than 100 people interviewed in connection with the missing persons case.

Condit underwent a privately administered polygraph test arranged by his lawyer earlier this month, but the results were not accepted by police.

When asked if police planned to give Condit or any members of his staff their own lie detector test, Gainer said, "I don't think that's going to happen... we talked about doing that before. ...I think we're really past the polygraph stage. It'd be nice to have but I don't think it's going to happen."

Speculation over Condit's involvement in the disappearance of Chandra Levy has generated many unconfirmed reports and theories about what happened, Gainer said. The police have not commented on many specifics of the case, however when asked about unconfirmed reports that Levy called Condit several times before her disappearance, Gainer disputed it.

"Frankly we've spent an awful lot of time knocking down rumors and innuendoes and people's theories of this case ... that one is not true," he said.

Police will continue to search areas of the city for any clues in the case, including several parks on Monday. They have searched abandoned buildings in the district and area parks, including Rock Creek Park, near Levy's apartment, turning up nothing.