The central figure in the scandal that drove former Attorney General Marc Dann from office last year pleaded not guilty this morning to 10 criminal charges against him.

Anthony Gutierrez, who was Dann's general-services director, is the first player in the Dann administration to face criminal charges stemming from the Democrat's 17 months in office.

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien's office accuses Gutierrez of using state computers and time to file phony statements to the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation for his private construction business. Gutierrez also is accused of using Dann's campaign account to cover living expenses at a Dublin-area condo he shared with Dann and the former attorney general's spokesman. Finally, Gutierrez is charged with failing to report income from his construction business and Dann's campaign fund on his financial-disclosure statement.

In a flat but clear voice, Gutierrez pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.

Neither he nor his attorney, Karl Schneider, would comment after the brief appearance in the courtroom of Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Timothy S. Horton.

The case could go to trial in a matter of weeks.

The charges against Gutierrez are the first, but not necessarily the last, to come from Dann's tumultuous tenure as Ohio's top lawyer. The former spokesman and condo-mate, Leo Jennings III, has hired a criminal lawyer, and Dann himself is scheduled to appear at the state elections commission on accusations that he misused campaign money for personal use.

"The investigation is ongoing," said Paul Nick, investigatory attorney for the Ohio Ethics Commission.