Trouble piles on for Dann aide

Woman says vehicle damaged after incident

By STEPHEN ORAVECZ / Tribune Chronicle
Two women making sexual harassment charges describe continued problems with a top aide of Attorney General Marc Dann, according to statements they made to an investigator.

One incident ended with Anthony Gutierrez allegedly crashing his state car into a guardrail in early October 2007. State vehicle maintenance records show fender repairs to his vehicle on Oct. 10.

Gutierrez has been placed on administrative leave during the investigation.

The incident that led to the car crash occurred about a month after Gutierrez took one of the women drinking on Sept. 10. According to complaints, Dann invited them for pizza at the suburban Columbus apartment he shared with Gutierrez and Dann’s communication director Leo Jennings III. There, Cindy Stankoski felt drunk and fell asleep in Gutierrez’s bedroom, her complaint states.

She assumed he would sleep on the couch, she said in the complaint, but claims the next morning she woke up to find her pants were unbuttoned and him next to her in his underwear.

According to her sexual harassment claim statement Stankoski, 26, claims Gutierrez called her about a month later and asked why she was ignoring him. When another woman got on the phone, Stankoski agreed to meet them at a club.

‘‘I felt more comfortable because Jenn and Leo were there,’’ Stankoski said, apparently referring to Jennings.

At the club, she claims Gutierrez said she owed him and referred to the Sept. 10 incident. He said he knew her pants were undone but he didn’t do anything, although he said he had wanted to.

At that point, Stankoski said she cursed him and left. The next day at work, she said he told her he fell asleep behind the wheel and hit a guard rail.

A maintenance report for Oct. 10 shows repairs to the right front fender, front door, rear door and a rear panel. The cost was $150, not including labor.

A maintenance report from Oct. 28 also shows that custom paint flames and stencils were installed on Gutierrez’s vehicle at a cost of $250. The custom painting was removed Feb. 27 for $301.54.

Jennings also has been placed on administrative leave, although the attorney general’s office has not said why.

However, a note on Stankoski’s statement to attorney general’s Equal Employment officer Angie Smedlund offers a clue. The note says, ‘‘Charlie said knew CS was at house 9/10. Leo & Tony destroyed texts Tony admitted to Charlie.’’

It is uncertain who wrote the note in the top margin. Charlie could be Charlie Rosol, deputy director of general services under Gutierrez.

The other woman who filed a complaint against Gutierrez is Vanessa Stout, also 26, who attended Brookfield High School. She claims trouble started as soon as she was hired on Nov. 26, when Gutierrez called her repeatedly and said he would like to have sex with her.

Stout has a criminal record, which according to her personnel file includes assault, a DUI and harassment. The Sharon Herald newspaper has reported that between June 2000 and April 2005, Mercer County court records show she she was charged with speeding and driving under suspension, disorderly conduct, harassment, retail theft and criminal mischief.

The Herald reported that she spent time in the Mercer County Jail on a parole violation in 2001.

Gutierrez told her he got her hired and that she owed him, Stout claims.

Dann has recused himself from the investigation and there is no evidence he knew about the incidents.



soravecz@tribune-chronicle.com