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Dann staffer files police report on harassment
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It’s up to the officer to determine if criminal charges are filed.
YOUNGSTOWN — An attorney general’s office staffer filed a report with the Columbus Police Department accusing Anthony S. Gutierrez, her supervisor, of sexually harassing her, including once at a condominium he shared with Attorney General Marc Dann.
Cindy Stankoski of New Albany filed the report Friday with Columbus Sgt. David Pelphrey of the department’s sexual-assault unit, said Detective Keith Ferrell.
“A police report was made about the incident,” Ferrell said. “It’s up to [Pelphrey] to decide if criminal charges should be filed.”
That won’t be done until next week at the earliest.
Attempts Friday to reach Sam Amendolara, Gutierrez’s attorney, and Mark L. Collins, the lawyer representing Stankoski, were unsuccessful.
“The attorney general’s office stands ready to cooperate in any way in which we’re asked” related to the police report, said Ted Hart, the office’s deputy communications director.
Stankoski and Vanessa Stout of Dublin, formerly of Masury, filed sexual harassment complaints against Gutierrez, of Liberty, with the attorney general’s office. They also filed complaints with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The two 26-year-old women, who both make $14 an hour at the attorney general’s office, contend that Gutierrez, 50, the office’s director of general services and Dann’s longtime friend, repeatedly sexually harassed them.
The investigation led to the paid suspensions of Gutierrez, who makes $87,500 a year, and Leo Jennings III of Poland, Dann’s communications director and longtime friend, who makes $102,000 annually.
Dann’s office won’t discuss the reasons for Jennings’ suspension, but said it is “related to an open investigation of sexual harassment charges.”
Gutierrez and Jennings answered questions earlier this week about the allegations from the two women as part of the attorney general’s internal investigation. Dann, 46, a Liberty Democrat, is to be called as a witness, but Hart said Friday he didn’t know if the attorney general has been questioned yet.
Stankoski contends that Gutierrez pressured her to go out Sept. 10, got her drunk and then brought her to the Dublin condo he shared with Dann and Jennings, according to records provided by the attorney general’s office. Stankoski said they went to the condo at the invitation of Dann to share pizza, the records show.
Stankoski said she asked to lie down, and later found herself in Gutierrez’s bed, according to the records.
Stankoski acknowledged that she “didn’t feel violated but could have been.”
Stout accused Gutierrez of sexually harassing her as well, attorney general office records show.
Stout said she went a few times to the condo, but never felt threatened, according to records.
She told the office’s Equal Employment Opportunity officer that the three men “all drank a lot” and “all are pigs.”
The attorney general’s office is expected Monday to turn over e-mails requested by numerous media outlets, including The Vindicator, between Dann and Jessica Utovich, Dann’s former scheduler who is now the office’s travel scheduler. Utovich, 28, of Columbus, also was at the condo Sept. 10.
The request was expected to be fulfilled Friday, but was postponed.
skolnick@vindy.com