Timeline of key events in Marc Dann controversy
Related: Photos, videos and more on the Marc Dann controversy
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Timeline is based on state documents, the women's claims and other sources.
Extras
Early 2007: Attorney General Marc Dann hires Anthony Gutierrez, 50, to run the purchasing, mailroom and vehicle operations and Leo Jennings III, 52, to be communications chief. The three friends from the Youngstown area begin sharing a suburban Columbus apartment in June.
April 2007: Dann fires Rick Alli, his "top cop," and asks the Ohio Ethics Commission to investigate him for possible ethics law violations. Alli, 52, a sergeant with the Youngstown Police Department when Dann hired him Jan. 8 to be Director of Law Enforcement Operations. But Alli failed to resign his Youngstown job, according to Dann's office.
May 2007: For the past three months, a man who served time in prison for involuntary manslaughter has been driving Dann throughout the state and attending to his security details. Dann's office fires David L. Nelson, 57, when a national criminal background check turns up his conviction from 1976 in Mercer County, Pa.
June 2007: Dann, standing on a street in an upper-middle class neighborhood, spots a reporter who had written a story he didn't like. Dann says, "Hey Steve, write this down: Go (expletive) yourself!"
June 2007: Dann's scheduler, Jessica Utovich, 28, plans to accompany Dann on a trip to Turkey but then senior staff say no.
Aug. 15, 2007: After his neighbor, Vanessa Stout, 26, confronts him about backing into her dad's truck with his state-owned SUV, Gutierrez has a staff member partially fill out a damage report.
Aug. 20, 2007: Gutierrez hires Cindy Stankoski, 26.
Sept. 10, 2007: Stankoski goes out for drinks with Gutierrez. Dann then invites them to the apartment for pizza where Stankoski sees Utovich in her pajamas. Stankoski passes out and awakes to find her pants undone and Gutierrez next to her in his underwear.
Oct. 3, 2007: Stankoski rides back from Cincinnati with Gutierrez after dropping off state vehicles. He again pressures her for sex.
Mid-October: A co-worker gives text messages she received from Stankoski about the harassment to Dann's human resources department.
Oct. 10, 2007: Gutierrez's vehicle shows up at a state garage with unexplained damage to the right side. Gutierrez fails to fill out required paperwork. Stankoski says after a night of drinking, Gutierrez told her he was so drunk that he fell asleep at the wheel and hit a guardrail.
Nov. 26, 2007: Gutierrez hires Stout.
December 2007: Dann disciplines his close friend, Communications Director Leo Jennings III, who sent a profane, abusive e-mail to a co-worker in the fall.
February 2008: Dann uses a state plane and his state-owned SUV to travel to political events. He then pays for the trips out of his campaign account, his 2007 campaign finance report shows.
March 6, 2008: Stout tells Dann's human resources department about the harassment.
March 18, 2008: A third Gutierrez vehicle shows up damaged. He fails to fill out required paperwork.
March 31, 2008: Equal Employment Opportunity officer Angela Smedlund takes sexual harassment complaints from Stankoski and Stout.
April 7, 2008: Gutierrez is placed on paid leave.
April 8, 2008: Dann asks two top aides to conduct an internal investigation.
April 14, 2008: Jennings is placed on paid leave.
April 21, 2008: Dann releases 2,200 e-mails between him and Utovich. They show a close, casual relationship.
April 30, 2008: Stankoski returns to work to find her desk ransacked.
May 2: Assistant Attorney General Ben Espy releases internal investigation that finds errors in judgment by Dann. Gutierrez and Jennings are fired. Utovich resigns. Edgar Simpson, Dann's policy chief, also resigns for failing to address inappropriate behavior. Simpson had knowledge of Gutierrez's history of policy violations, the investigation report said. Dann is defiant, and refuses to step down. Dann admits he had an affair with Utovich and that he was unprepared for office.
May 5: Gov. Ted Strickland and other Ohio Democrats call for Dann to step down.
May 13: Ohio Democrats introduce articles of impeachment. Gov. Ted Strickland signs legislation authorizing state Inspector General Tom Charles to investigate Dann's office and coordinate other ongoing probes.
May 14: Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann resigns hours after state investigators remove files and computers from his office. First Assistant Attorney General Tom Winters immediately assumed authority until Gov. Ted Strickland appoints a new attorney general.
