Mel Gibson's Rip-Roaring Rants to Oksana Grigorieva Not Likely to be Key in Criminal Investigation, Say Cops

LOS ANGELES (CBS) Remember those panting, raving, expletive-laced recordings of Mel Gibson going off on his soon to be ex Oksana Grigorieva? Well apparently they mean a lot more to the gossip pages than to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department - which is kind of comforting.

PICTURES: Mel Gibson's Sickest Rants

Law enforcement sources said Monday that the investigation into the domestic abuse allegations leveled against the "Lethal Weapon" star by his Russian beauty ex-girlfriend will focus more on medical reports and witness accounts than the highly publicized phone recordings, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"We are the caboose in a celebrity scandal," one law enforcement official told the Times. "But our job isn't to speculate or deal in rumors, but to get the bottom of whether a crime occurred."

Detectives face a number of obstacles in their investigation, apart from the highly publicized nature of the case which could taint the jury pool should charges be brought against Gibson. One of the major stumbling blocks, sources told the Times, is the fact that Grigorieva did not report the alleged key incidents for several months.

Investigators are also expected to pursue medical records that would verify the level of injury that Grigorieva claimed Gibson caused to her and her infant daughter, who Grigorieva claims she was holding when Gibson attacked her. Her complaint claims that her child with the "Braveheart" star was also injured during the alleged assault, two law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation told the Times.

Investigators have brought in their top gun electronic forensic experts to analyze Grigorieva's phone which is said to contain evidence pertaining to the investigation, including text messages between the couple and possible photographic evidence of the alleged abuse, the Times reported.

More Coverage of Mel Gibson on Crimesider.