Ohio gambling official fired for harassment

COLUMBUS (AP) — A state gaming agent's sexual harassment complaint against her supervisor led Ohio Casino Control Commission investigators to a larger pattern of intimidation and the man's firing, according to records obtained by and interviews conducted by The Associated Press.

Columbus-based deputy enforcement director Mark Leatherman lost his job in May after an internal investigation, commission officials said. A termination letter cited "actions and lack of professionalism in and out of the workplace." It was among records on the case obtained by the AP through a public records request.

A female gaming agent alleged in a February complaint that Leatherman harassed her and created a hostile work environment because she had rebuffed his sexual advances, including flirtatious text messages, in 2014. Internal investigators subsequently found Leatherman had controlled staff for years through false claims that top commission staff planned to discipline or fire them.

Neither Leatherman nor the agent returned phone and social media messages seeking comment.

Casino Control Commission Executive Director Matt Schuler said details of the Leatherman investigation were so concerning that he wove them into annual in-person ethics and sexual harassment training given to casino staff across the state.

"We used this specific situation as an object lesson to underscore our position that if anyone does anything like this and tries to create a hostile work environment that I'm going to fire them," Schuler said. "And I believe we're all better off for it."

The findings unfolded from an initial complaint from the agent, who provided a pair of text messages, records show.