With state workers looking on Thursday, investigators with the New Mexico Attorney General's Office searched a state vehicle assigned to Public Regulation Commission member Jerome Block Jr. while it was parked at the Public Employees Retirement Association Building.

It was unclear what investigators found in the 2004 Dodge Durango, but three investigators from the state Attorney General's Office showed up at about 1:30 p.m. with a search warrant signed by state District Judge Barbara Vigil, according to PRC Chief of Staff Johnny Montoya.

"We didn't have a key," Montoya said. "They called a towing company to come in with a tool to give them access to the vehicle. They opened all the vehicle doors. There was a lot of stuff in the vehicle, including garments. They inventoried everything they seized."

Montoya would not say what was seized.

During the search, employees peered out from the windows in the PERA Building, where the PRC is housed.

Block did not return multiple phone calls from The New Mexican on Thursday.

Thursday's search of Block's vehicle comes nearly two months after the PRC canceled a personal identification number Block used to fill up his state vehicle with gas, Montoya said. Preceding that cancellation was a June report showing suspicious activity on Block's gas card account, Montoya said.

"The minute we noticed that there was anything that we felt was funny about his gas card report, we immediately canceled his PIN number," Montoya said. "And that was because I wasn't sure if his card had been stolen, if his Social Security number had been stolen, if his PIN number had been stolen. I canceled his PIN number immediately."

In an interview with KOB-TV on Thursday, Block said the PRC had given him a new PIN number after his old one was canceled.

But Montoya said Block never received a new PIN number.

Since the cancellation, Montoya said that to his knowledge Block had not used any state vehicles.

The June report wasn't the first time that the PRC has found suspicious activity on Block's gas card account.

When Montoya became chief of staff in March, he said he ran a report on gas card usage by all PRC employees and commissioners and found some suspicious activity on Block's gas card account.

Block supplied a money order for $193 on March 24 for charges on his gas card account that appeared questionable, Montoya said.

According to PRC reports obtained by KOB-TV, Block charged nearly $4,200 on his gas card account from November 2010 through early May. The vast majority went toward fuel costs, but there was at least one charge of $34 for nonfuel costs. The $4,200 charged by Block was more than any other PRC commissioner charged over the same period, KOB-TV reported.

The records also showed that on several occasions from January to May, multiple charges were made to Block's account on the same day, some within an hour of each other and a few within minutes of one another.

For example, three charges were made at a Española Conoco station on May 6, one at 11:34 a.m. for $29.56, another at 11:43 a.m., nine minutes later, for $40 and a third charge for $80 at 1:47 p.m.

Block told KOB-TV that certain state gas cards had been compromised and that he likely had made the initial gas charges on the days in question, but not the follow-up charges.

"I think the second charge is where the compromised cards come into play," the commissioner told KOB-TV. "It'd take a stupid person to go do that, back to back, especially in a day and age where there are cameras and this report gets generated."

Asked by KOB-TV whether he had given his PIN number to others, Block said no, then amended his answer, saying, "In the past if an employee I needed to go fill up for me, I probably did."

The gas card reports from March and June that showed suspicious activity were forwarded to the Attorney General's Office and State Auditor's Office.

On Thursday afternoon, State Auditor Hector Balderas issued a statement regarding the files his office had received from the PRC.

"The Office of the State Auditor recently received information from the Public Regulation Commission and other sources regarding instances of potential fraudulent use of state-issued gas cards, the statement said. "Based on my auditors' analysis of the information, I am very concerned that taxpayer resources may have been abused. I have directed immediate steps be taken to ensure that this matter is fully reviewed and audited."

Questions surrounding Block's gas card usage are the latest trouble for the commissioner.

Already, Block is in trouble for allegedly misusing public campaign cash in 2008. Block paid $21,000 in penalties after lying on a campaign report during his run for the post.

The state Court of Appeals earlier this month reinstated criminal charges against Block and his father, Jerome Block Sr., who helped him with the campaign reports. A district court decision in 2010 had thrown out charges against the Blocks.

Block, a Democrat representing a Northern New Mexico district, also has faced scrutiny after a shoddy attendance record in recent months at his $90,000-a-year job. Records obtained by The New Mexican show he missed 11 of 31 meetings from January to late April of this year. Block in an interview said he had been busy with a newborn son and with other meetings in his district.

At least two other people want to represent that district, including Santa Fe County Clerk Valerie Espinoza and Martin Suazo of Las Vegas, N.M.

Reporter Kate Nash contributed to this report.