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Accompanied by her lawyer, a nervous-looking Alyssa Lenhoff walked into the Franklin County Municipal Court Monday to plead guilty to state ethics charges. At one point, she appeared on the verge of tears as the judge accepted her plea and told the wife of Ohio's former attorney general, "it gives me no pleasure to meet you here." Lenhoff was given a suspended jail sentence and fined $1,000 and court costs. The single count of having an unlawful interest in a public contract dealt with her work to obtain a $6,500 grant from the Ohio Attorney General's Office while her now-estranged...

Report rips Dann's 'house of scandal' Probes find 25 misdeeds by disgraced ex-AG, wife, others Monday, December 22, 2008 12:22 PM Updated: Monday, December 22, 2008 04:33 PM By Alan Johnson and James Nash THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Former Attorney General Marc Dann "violated the public trust," misused his state office and his campaign and transition funds, and turned his office into a "house of scandal," Ohio Inspector General Thomas P. Charles concluded in a scathing investigative report released today. "This office was built for disaster," Charles said in a press conference outlining the report. "He came in and brought a...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio's attorney general has resigned amid the scandal of a sexual harassment investigation in his office and his extramarital affair. Marc Dann has been under pressure of possible impeachment and announced he was stepping down on Wednesday. The 46-year-old Democrat at first refused to resign, despite demands by Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and others within his party. Dann admitted May 2 to an extramarital affair with an employee that he said contributed to an atmosphere leading to sexual harassment claims against a top aide. Three aides were forced out in the harassment investigation, which showed managers encouraged...

Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann resigned this afternoon, just hours after the inspector general's office launched a raid on his office. The embattled Democrat made the announcement in a joint appearance with Gov. Ted Strickland in the governor's cabinet room, next to his Statehouse office. The governor called it a "sad day" for Ohio but said he is "pleased" Dann quit.

Investigators from the Ohio Inspector General’s office descended on Attorney General Marc Dann’s office shortly after 11 this morning, defying Dann’s legal arguments that they had no right to investigate his office. A state trooper was seen hauling video equipment from the attorney general’s office in the Rhodes Tower shortly after noon today. Authorities also reportedly locked down computers operated by Dann and about a dozen of his top assistants.

Attorney General Marc Dann is expected to make a statement on his political future around noon today. Although it's widely speculated that Dann will step down from the office he's held since January 2007, his spokesman, Jason Stanford, wouldn't preview his statement.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Risking impeachment, Ohio's attorney general on Monday refused demands from the governor and other fellow Democrats that he resign over a sexual harassment scandal in his office and an affair with a subordinate. Gov. Ted Strickland told reporters that Democrats will begin drafting an impeachment resolution against Attorney General Marc Dann right away. Republican House Speaker Jon Husted said Monday that his chamber — which takes the first step in any impeachment — was already reviewing the process. Virtually every state-level Democratic officeholder urged Dann to resign in a letter late Sunday after Strickland tried twice during...

Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann admitted that he had an affair with a subordinate on Friday at a press conference held in response to an internal investigation of sexual harrassment claims against Director of General Services Anthony Gutierrez. Results of the internal investigation were released on approximately 9:30am Friday morning.

Response to 'Dispatch' request Dann releases 2,300 e-mails Tuesday, April 22, 2008 3:11 AM By Darrel Rowland, Alan Johnson, Mark Niquette and Randy Ludlow THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH The Daily Briefing Inside the e-mails: Marc Dann and Jessica Utovich DispatchPolitics # DispatchPolitics.com Complete election coverage. # Buckeye Forum Veteran political reporters examine Ohio politics in this weekly podcast. Nothing relating to an ongoing sexual-harassment probe was immediately apparent in hundreds of e-mails between Attorney General Marc Dann and his scheduler, Jessica Utovich, that were unveiled last night. After initially denying a Dispatch request for the communications, Dann's office released more than...

Columbus -- One of Attorney General Marc Dann's top managers, who is accused of sexual harassment, has a history of problems with cars and alcohol, including a drunken driving arrest months before he was hired and a smashed state car after. Dann knew about the arrest because, according to State Highway Patrol records, he was the one who picked Anthony Gutierrez up at 2:30 in the morning at the Canfield post after Gutierrez blew a .149 on a blood-alcohol test nearly twice the legal limit. The trooper who pulled him over on Sept. 22, 2006, for going 20 miles per...

COLUMBUS — Anthony Gutierrez turned in his state-owned SUV with unexplained damage on Oct. 10, roughly the same time frame that his employee, Cindy Stankoski, claims Gutierrez pressured her for sex and told her he got so drunk that he fell asleep at the wheel and awoke only when he hit a guardrail. The 2004 Chevy Suburban came into the state shop needing repair to the right front fender, right front and rear doors, and right quarter panel. Gutierrez, who managed the attorney general's vehicle fleet, did not fill out the required damage report, according to Ted Hart, a spokesman...

Columbus -- A 26-year-old woman filed a police report Friday about an evening of drinking last fall that she says ended with her waking up in Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann's apartment with her pants unbuttoned. She filed the complaint against her boss, Anthony , 50, a top aide to Dann, who she said was lying next to her in his underwear when she awoke. Columbus police detectives interviewed her but afterward released only a vague report. The woman has also filed an internal sexual harassment complaint against Gutierrez and was interviewed by an equal employment opportunity officer March 31....