COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — State investigators are looking into whether a top aide to former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann misused office funds to purchase new vehicles for the office during a three-month period last summer.

Anthony Gutierrez, who served as Dann’s general services chief, spent $1.8 million on 94 vehicles he added to the office’s 254-vehicle fleet.

He twice made purchases using money from a state fund intended to assist victims of violent crimes, replaced some vehicles that were just three years old, and added expensive special features to many of the vehicles, according to records obtained by

The Columbus Dispatch and published in a story Monday.

“We’re looking into a number of the special-purpose funds and whether the expenditures were in compliance with the purposes of those funds,” said Chris Abbruzzese, a spokesman for state Auditor Mary Taylor. Officials also are investigating whether Gutierrez used any of the state vehicles for personal reasons.

A message seeking comment was left Monday with Gutierrez’s attorney, Sam Amendolara.

Gutierrez was the central figure in a pair of sexual harassment complaints by two female employees of Dann’s office that ultimately resulted in several aides being forced out and Dann resigning in May.

Numerous state agencies are participating in an ongoing investigation headed by Ohio Inspector General Tom Charles into the activities of Dann’s office during the 17 months he served.

Gutierrez bought four types of vehicles in bulk — 26 Chevrolet Impalas, 12 Chevrolet Equinoxes, 12 Chevrolet Uplanders and 10 Ford Escapes, The Dispatch reported. He often opted for options such as remote keyless entry, side air bags and power windows and locks.

The Department of Administrative Services, which handles bulk purchases for state agencies, offered assistance to the attorney general’s office when Dann first took office but was brushed aside, said spokesman Ron Sylvester. Gutierrez bought vehicles from dealerships in Youngstown, Columbus and elsewhere.

“From the very beginning in that office, it was clear that they were going to do things their own way,” Sylvester said.

Most of the vehicles were bought using funds that can be used for any purchase in the attorney general’s office. But a few were purchased using funds that had a more limited purpose.

Gutierrez used a fund intended for law enforcement training, technology and laboratory equipment in the crime fighting section of the office.

Records show he bought two vehicles for a total of $32,447.45 using the crime victims’ compensation fund, which comes mostly from court costs and prisoner work programs and pays lost salaries and other expenses of victims of violent crimes. The fund went from $34.6 million in July 2006 to $23.2 million in July 2007.

The attorney general’s office, now headed by Nancy Hardin Rogers, declined to comment on Gutierrez’s purchases or whether the crime victims’ fund could be used to purchase vehicles.

“I’m confident that if there were any issues of abnormality in the way in which funds were used, there will be a resolution to those abnormalities — and current, ongoing investigations may undoubtedly reach into the core of those issues,” spokeswoman Jennifer Brindisi said in a statement.

Dann said he did not tell Gutierrez to use the crime victims’ fund for the vehicle purchases. In the fund’s 2007 annual report, Dann wrote that he “was doing everything possible to ensure that the fund meets the needs of victims and their families.”