Finding not working on exact match

[alex shore]

I have a database with a field named FLDSTATUS that is either "Imported" or "Not Yet Imported" or "Error on Import". Approimately 120,000 of the 130,000 records have FLDSTATUS set to "Imported", there are about 2000 records that are "Not Yet Imported" and only about 7000 records that are "Error on Import". When I enter Find mode and enter "Not Yet Imported" into the field and hit Find, it can't find any matching records. If I insert the find qualifier for a relaxed search (a "~"), then Walla!, the records are found.

Is this a new feature in v7, does it sound like database corruption?

Suggestions would really help.

Thanks