(Originally Posted 4-19-08)
There is a growing sexual harassment scandal involving employees of the Ohio State Attorney's office. An alleged victim has officially filed a police complaint involving misconduct at the condo where the Attorney General and officials stayed.
The complaint by Stankoski, 26, an employee in the telecommunications section, focuses on the night of Sept. 10, 2007, when her boss, Anthony Gutierrez, pressured her to go out for a drink after work. After visiting three Downtown bars, Gutierrez took her, at the invitation of Attorney General Marc Dann, to the Dublin-area condo then occupied by Gutierrez, Dann and Leo Jennings III, the attorney general's $102,000-a-year communications director. All three have since moved.
Stankoski said that a half-hour after arriving, she felt drunk, asked to lie down and was directed to Gutierrez's bedroom. When she awoke around 4:30 a.m., she said her pants were unbuttoned and Gutierrez was lying beside her dressed only in underwear. Stankoski said Gutierrez later admitted that he unbuttoned her pants and wanted to have sex with her, but decided against it.
The police will decide whether Gutierrez should be charged, Collins has said.
Dann has acknowledged that he was at the condo that night but declined to comment because of the ongoing internal investigation.
Vanessa Stout, 26, another employee Gutierrez supervised, also filed sexual-harassment complaints with the state and with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Gutierrez and Jennings have been suspended with pay pending the outcome of an internal investigaition, which Attorney General Dann insisted on. Internal investigations are frowned upon, and the results can lead to coverups of more extensive and serious crimes.
Gutierrrez has a history of problems behind the wheel, yet was still hired by Dann's office, as shown below:
Gutierrez was arrested for drunken driving just weeks before he was hired by Dann, 10 Investigates' Paul Aker reported.
Records show Gutierrez' blood-alcohol level hit .149, nearly twice the legal limit. The Ohio State Highway Patrol confirmed that Dann picked up Gutierrez after the incident.
"I can only tell you that Mr. Dann knew that Mr. Gutierrez (had) a DUI," said Ted Hart, a Dann spokesman.
A timeline of events showed that Gutierrez was arrested on Sept. 26, 2006. Gutierrez turned in his application to Dann in December that year. On Jan. 9, 2007, Gutierrez pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of reckless operation. Dann hired Gutierrez less than a month later, Aker reported.
10 Investigates found that Gutierrez never listed the incident on his official application. Hart said that Dann would not have hired Gutierrez with a DUI.
10 Investigates also learned of other problems Gutierrez had that took place in state-owned vehicles. Before an SUV named the Sunshine Express had flames on it, it suffered body damage. Records obtained by 10 Investigates showed Gutierrez apparently crashed it but skipped AG policy by failing to report the damage.
"The policy clearly states if that the vehicle is damaged that reports have to be filled out and at this point there is nothing to point," Hart said.
(Updated 5-6-08) Things have taken a turn over in Ohio after Dann admitted that he had an affair with Jessica Utovich, his ex-scheduler. He apologized to his family and Ohio citizens after the revelations of the rumored sexual misconduct. The internal investigation of Gutierrez and Jennings led to their firing Friday, May 2.
"To (my wife) Alyssa and my children, to the employees of the attorney general, I apologize for my human failings," Dann said during a tense, hour-long news conference [May 2].
"I take full responsibility. As disappointed as I am with the conduct of others, I am even more disappointed in myself. … I have not conducted myself in a way that is consistent with my values as a husband, a father and my responsibilities as the attorney general of Ohio."
Dann said he is "heartbroken by my failure to recognize the problems being created and by my failure to stop them."
Punishment went to others, however, based on findings of an internal investigation done by Ben Espy, executive assistant attorney general, and Julie Pfeiffer, senior assistant attorney general.
Anthony Gutierrez, general-services director, and Leo Jennings III, communication director, both Dann's longtime friends from the Youngstown area, were fired. A third longtime Dann friend, Edgar C. Simpson, his top nonlegal adviser, resigned Thursday night instead of being fired yesterday. Simpson was paid $110,000 a year; Jennings and Gutierrez were paid $102,000 and $87,500, respectively.
The woman who spent nights at the Dublin-area condominium with Dann last year, Jessica Utovich, his former scheduler, resigned Thursday. Other staff members said she was crying in the office all day Thursday, her last day on the job.
Governor Ted Strickland thought that the firing of officials except for Dann was a double standard, and an Ohio GOP operative said as a result of the scandal, he lost the trust of Ohio citizens and should resign.
"Marc Dann failed the people of Ohio, and he must resign immediately," DeWine said. "It's simply not acceptable that everyone but Dann himself will be held accountable."
Gutierrez, Jennings, Simpson and Utovich declined to comment or did not return phone calls yesterday.
Dann repeatedly stated that his own ethical and policy breaches don't justify his departure as the state's top lawyer.
Several investigations remain open. The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is looking into Stankoski and Stout's sexual-harassment complaints, and the State Highway Patrol and the Department of Administrative Services are reviewing unreported accidents and use of state vehicles.
The Ohio Ethics Commission will be asked to look into allegations that Gutierrez was running his construction business from his state office.
Over the weekend, calls for the AG to resign grew louder, with Governor Strickland calling for Dann's resignation yesterday. Dann decided to stick it out in a response, and now some Ohio Democrats have disowned him, calling Dann an independant who was elected a Democrat. Ohio legislators have dusted off the impeachment statutes, which haven't been used in literally 200 years.
Steinglass said the most notable impeachment case in Ohio was brought in 1808 against George Tod, a Supreme Court justice, and Calvin Pease, a common pleas court judge.
They both were impeached by the House for declaring a law involving the right to a trial by jury unconstitutional, but each was acquitted by one vote in Senate trials.
The Columbus Dispatch has full coverage of this story.
(Update 5-14-08) Dann has been impeached by his own party, and offered to resign to hold off an investigation into the matters discussed above by Ohio Inspector General Thomas P. Charles, which will start today. The Ohio House passed, and Governor Strickland signed an emergency bill granting the Inspector General immediate powers to investigate Dann. The FBI will also do their own investigation.
The nine counts of impeachment allege that Attorney General Marc Dann:
• Obstructed the internal investigation into allegations of sexual harassment in his office.
• Willfully and intentionally issued misleading statements under oath.
• Neglected to perform the duties of his office and, by his own admission, was not competent or qualified for the job.
• Knew or should have known that his own admitted sexual affair with an employee contributed to and allowed a hostile work environment.
• Failed to ensure the safety and security of state property.
• Failed to investigate and prohibit improper use of state property.
• Knew or should have known of the misuse of state property for personal business.
• Committed acts of gross neglect of duty by undermining the integrity of his office, bringing disrepute on the office, betraying the public trust as Ohio's chief law-enforcement officer and undermining the effectiveness and efficiency of the office.
• Committed acts of gross immorality and knew or should have known that his personal conduct undermined the effectiveness and efficiency of the office.
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