Secretary reinstated at Valley AG office

By David Skolnick

The worker was accused of misconduct in the office.

YOUNGSTOWN — A secretary at the attorney general’s Youngstown office placed on paid administrative leave in April is back on the job.

Attorney general officials had accused Kathleen Walley, 44, of Youngstown, of having information about her former boss’s private business on her state computer.

She was also accused of improperly having the information erased by employees of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.

Walley was back at work Monday after being reinstated.

Walley was suspended with pay April 21 after she was accused of misconduct.

AG officials contended she had information on her state computer related to private dealings of the construction company of Anthony Gutierrez of Liberty, at that time the AG office’s director of general services and her boss.

If so, that would have violated office policies and procedures and could have led to her termination, according to an April 30 letter sent to her by the office’s director of human resources.

Walley was reinstated at the direction of Attorney General Nancy Hardin Rogers, said Ted Hart, an office spokesman.

Hart said Monday he had no information on the results of the investigation.

He said the matter was handled by the Ohio Inspector General’s Office. Inspector General Tom Charles couldn’t be reached late Monday to comment.

Walley, hired by Gutierrez, is paid $33,280 annually.

Then-Attorney General Marc Dann, a Democrat from Liberty, fired Gutierrez, a neighbor and longtime friend, May 2.

An internal investigation revealed Gutierrez sexually harassed two subordinates at the attorney general’s office.

The investigation also led to the firing of a second top staffer and the forced resignation of another.

Democratic and Republican leaders in the state called for Dann’s resignation after the release of the May 2 report.

Dann refused to quit until May 14 when Charles and his subordinates seized computers, other electronic equipment and documents from the attorney general’s main office in Columbus and the Youngstown office.

Walley’s computer was among the items taken.

Attempts to reach Walley on Monday were unsuccessful.

Dann declined to comment on Walley’s reinstatement.

skolnick@vindy.com