The two women who leveled the accusations, expressing fears that the attorney general's office would not adequately investigate itself, filed complaints later yesterday with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Dann stepped aside from his office's probe of whether Anthony Gutierrez, a longtime friend who supervises the attorney general's purchasing and support services, made unwelcome sexual advances toward the two junior female employees who work for him.

The move came because Dann is a potential witness and "he just wants to do everything he can to let people see that our goal here is to have a complete and professional investigation of this," said his spokesman, Leo Jennings III.

Ben Espy, former state Senate Democratic leader and Ohio Supreme Court candidate who is now a top attorney in Dann's office, will lead the probe, along with Julie Pfeiffer of the employment-law section.

Jennings said Dann "wants to make sure that the investigation is handled by people in whom he has confidence and in whom the public has confidence. I don't know of anyone who is going to assault Ben Espy's integrity."

The Democratic attorney general's "only concern … is to have a thorough investigation no matter where it leads" -- even if that's to Dann himself, Jennings said.

Normally, the attorney general has the final say on discipline resulting from harassment and other workplace complaints. Dann's aides said the attorney general rarely exercises that authority, most often leaving decisions to Thomas R. Winters, his top legal aide, and Edgar Simpson, his top nonlegal aide.

In the current investigation, Winters -- a longtime Columbus lawyer and sometime Democratic lobbyist -- will make the final call. Unlike Simpson, Jennings and Gutierrez, Winters is not connected to Dann by friendship. Winters did, however, contribute to Espy's unsuccessful 2006 Supreme Court campaign.

In a letter yesterday, Dann pledged to Espy "whatever resources, internal or external, that you find necessary to complete your investigation."

On March 31, Vanessa Stout and Cindy Stankoski, both 26, filed written complaints with the attorney general's office alleging that Gutierrez had plied them with drinks, touched them inappropriately and asked them for sex.

On one occasion last September at the Dublin condo shared by Dann, Gutierrez and Jennings, Stankoski said in her complaint that she awoke after an evening of drinking to find three buttons of her pants undone and Gutierrez beside her wearing only underwear. Dann helped persuade her to come to the condo that night, promising her over Gutierrez's cell phone that he would get the Hawaiian pizza she requested.

When she still expressed reluctance, Gutierrez assured her there would be no problem since she would be hanging out with the "big dogs," the complaint said.

Stankoski said that when she arrived, Dann's scheduler, Jessica Utovich, 28, was in the apartment with Dann wearing pajamas. Both Dann and Utovich have declined to comment.

Chris Redfern, the Ohio Democratic chairman, said Dann denied to him that Utovich was at his condo in her pajamas. The situation, the state representative from northern Ohio says, appears to be limited to a case of a bad employee.

"No one has alleged that the attorney general has done anything inappropriate," Redfern said.

The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigates allegations of discrimination and other violations of federal employment law and operates independently of Dann's office and other branches of state government. It may conduct an investigation at the same time as a matter is being internally reviewed by an employer, commission spokeswoman Christine Nazer said.

For purposes of a workplace complaint, a state governmental office such as Dann's is treated no differently from a private employer, she said. Records of an investigation become public only when a lawsuit is filed, Nazer said.

Dispatch Public Affairs Editor Darrel Rowland and reporters Alan Johnson and Jim Siegel contributed to this story.

jnash@dispatch.com