FBI Reportedly Butting Heads With Pima County Sheriff Over Guthrie Case

The FBI and Pima County Sheriff's Department may be butting heads over the Nancy Guthrie kidnapping case, according to a new report.

The two agencies investigating the Guthrie case apparently didn't see eye-to-eye over where recent evidence that was collected should be analyzed.

Citing a law enforcement source, FOX News reported Thursday ... FBI brass wanted DNA from Nancy's home and other physical evidence to be sent to their crime laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, but Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos denied the request, sending the items to a private lab in Florida for examination.

In response to the FOX article, Sheriff Nanos told NBC affiliate KVOA ... the report was "not even close to the truth," adding that his agency is cooperating with the FBI.

Among the items sent to the Florida lab were 2 gloves found on a roadside about 1.5 miles from Nancy's Tucson home where she was abducted. The gloves looked similar to the ones worn by the alleged kidnapper who was caught on a doorbell camera lurking around the front door of the house.

Notably, Nanos told KVOA there were "quite a number of [gloves]" discovered amid the search for Nancy ... but admitted police don't know "the true value of these gloves."

The FBI said Thursday the masked suspect is a man who's 5' 9" to 5' 10" with an average build who was carrying a black, 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack.

Purported ransom notes have been sent to several news outlets, including TMZ, demanding money in exchange for Nancy's safe return.