Dann’s office to end probe

By Marc Kovac

The alleged conduct, if substantiated, could result in discipline, up to and including termination.

COLUMBUS — Attorney General Marc Dann’s office is nearing completion of an investigation into sexual harassment allegations made by two women against Anthony Gutierrez, general services director and friend and neighbor of the Democratic officeholder.

Thomas Winters, first assistant attorney general, released a statement Wednesday that 23 witnesses had been interviewed, and four recalled for further questioning, since April 14.

The “testimony phase of the investigation is now complete,” Winters said in a statement. He said a final report is expected to be finished in about two weeks.

“The office is conducting the investigation as thoroughly and quickly as can be accomplished,” he said in the statement. “We are committed to a fair and impartial process and will release the information as soon as possible after the investigation is completed.”

Two employees, Cindy Stankoski and Vanessa Stout, made the sexual harassment allegations.

Stankoski, 26, was hired in August as administrative staff/telecommunications assistant, according to documents.

Stout, also 26, was hired in November in a comparable position.

In complaint statements released by the attorney general’s office, the two women described incidents in which Gutierrez, 50, made inappropriate comments that were sexual in nature.

Stankoski also described an evening of drinking with Gutierrez, who later took her to the Columbus-area condominium he shared with Dann and Leo Jennings III, the attorney general’s communications director.

She awoke on his bed with her pants unbuttoned and Gutierrez in his underwear, according to documents.

Stankoski filed a report Friday with the Columbus Police Department accusing Gutierrez of sexual harassment, with the condo incident specifically cited.

Columbus police said Tuesday that no criminal charges will be filed against Gutierrez.

Sgt. Rich Weiner, a police spokesman, said Stankoski’s story and the evidence that she presented were reviewed by several levels of supervisors above the department’s sexual assault unit, because the case was high-profile, to determine whether any criminal act had occurred, according to The Associated Press.

“Whether it be ranging from rape to sexual imposition, there was nothing there,” he said.

Gutierrez was placed on paid administrative leave earlier this month.

A letter to him from the director of human resources, dated April 8, said the leave was “pending an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment of employees and/or possible misconduct. Please note that this alleged conduct, if substantiated, could result in discipline, up to and including termination.”

The Cleveland Plain Dealer, meanwhile, reported that the Ohio State Highway Patrol will investigate whether Gutierrez wrecked his state vehicle in October and, if so, whether he was drunk when he did it.

Witness interviews under way since last week for the harassment probe may have drawn clues that led the attorney general’s office to request the patrol’s help, said office spokesman Ted Hart.

One of the accusers alleged in a complaint that a drunken Gutierrez fell asleep behind the wheel and struck a guardrail while driving his state-issued Chevy Suburban. She said he came to work the next morning smelling of booze and with vomit caked on his nose.

The Plain Dealer reported last week that Gutierrez dropped the black Suburban off at an attorney general’s repair garage around that time. But no one at Dann’s office seemed to be aware of the wrecked vehicle.

It had damage to the fender, front and back doors and rear panel on the right side, and back door and rear panel on the left side. Within a month, the vehicle was fixed, repainted with flames down each side, named the Sunshine Express (after Ohio’s open records law), and put into service as an office promotional tool.

It is not uncommon, though not excusable, Hart admits, for an attorney general’s employee involved in a one-car wreck in a state vehicle to not file the required written report.

Gutierrez oversaw the office’s entire fleet — 254 state-owned vehicles — and could assign himself whichever one he wanted, Hart said. He drove four between April 2007 and January 2008.

An investigation into the harassment complaints was launched in late March.

Jennings, meanwhile, also was placed on paid administrative, though a reason was not specified. According to a letter to him from human resources dated April 14, “An allegation has been raised in connection with your actions related to an open investigation of sexual harassment charges.”

Dann recused himself from the proceedings shortly thereafter and appointed Ben Espy, executive assistant attorney general, and Julie Pfeiffer, assistant attorney general, to take over.

Winters, in his statement released Wednesday, noted that he will “review the investigators’ findings and, if appropriate, take disciplinary action. The report and transcripts will be made available to the public.”

mkovac@dixcom.com