I agree. I went back and looked at comments made by the sheriff. He is repeating what SP has said. When asked if he believed the story, the sheriff's response was that he didn't have reason to disbelieve it.
I don't know. In my life, if someone tells me a "strange" story, if I say "I believe you", this means I absolutely believe them. When I am in doubt, I'll say "you haven't given me any reason to not believe you", which means I'm either going to give them enough rope to hang themselves or I will seek out the truth elsewhere.