Dann chose scheduler for overseas trip

The police chiefs association paid for the tickets to Turkey.

COLUMBUS DISPATCH

COLUMBUS — Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann needed someone to replace his wife on a trip to Turkey last June. His choice was his chief scheduler Jessica Utovich.

The Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police confirmed that after Dann’s wife scrapped plans to accompany her husband to a law-enforcement conference in Turkey, the attorney general selected Utovich, 28, who had no background in law enforcement, according to her r sum , the Dispatch reported.

She obtained an airplane ticket to accompany the 46-year-old Dann to the Second Istanbul Conference on Democracy and Global Security from June 12 to 16.

Ultimately, Utovich had trouble getting a passport at the last minute and stayed home. The Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police paid $1,552 for Dann’s airfare and bought Utovich’s ticket, the group’s past president, Powell Police Chief Gary Vest, said Wednesday.

Vest said he didn’t know whether Utovich reimbursed the group for the unused ticket.

Ted Hart, Dann’s spokesman, said it’s not unusual for aides to accompany Dann on trips both near and far.

“[Utovich] is someone who tries to help him stay on time and on schedule,” Hart said. “[She is] someone who helps communicate with the office in Columbus.”

Utovich and Dann’s wife, Alyssa Lenhoff, did not return messages seeking comment Wednesday.

Utovich has been in the news in connection with sexual-harassment complaints against Anthony Gutierrez, 50, of Liberty, a longtime Dann friend.

Her name surfaced in a complaint filed by Cindy Stankoski that said on the night of Sept. 10, Utovich was at Dann’s Dublin-area condo late at night wearing either sweat pants or pajamas, dressed as if “she was there to stay.”

Stankoski filed one of the sexual-harassment complaints against Gutierrez.