Daniel Tanoos walks out of Marion Superior Court on Wednesday after an initial court hearing (Zach Herndon, WFIU/WTIU News)
Former Vigo County School Corporation Superintendent Daniel Tanoos appeared in court for the first time Wednesday to face three felony counts of bribery.
Tanoos is accused of accepting meals, event tickets and other items from an employee at Energy Systems Group, a guaranteed energy savings contractor. Court documents claim an employee from the company gave Tanoos the gifts to try to maintain a contract with the school corporation.
In a statement from his attorneys James H. Voyles and Jennifer M. Lukemeyer, Tanoos maintains his innocence.
"Mr. Tanoos has dedicated 20 years to the Vigo County School Corporation and its students as the Superintendent and is proud of that service," the statement says. "Because of that dedication Mr. Tanoos will aggressively fight these charges."
The charges stem from specific incidents in 2013 and 2014.
A judge entered a not guilty plea for Tanoos during the hearing. Tanoos will return to court Nov. 21 for a pretrial hearing. A trial is scheduled for Dec. 6.
Tanoos is not allowed to leave the state without a judge's permission while he awaits trial.
Tanoos retired this summer after serving as superintendent of Vigo County schools for 20 years. He was still working as director of safety until the school corporation suspended him Monday.
Read the complete statement from Tanoos:
In February of 2016, the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Indiana and agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation initiated a bribery investigation of Mr. Daniel Tanoos and others. No charges from that investigation were filed against Mr. Tanoos. Now, after approximately 2 years of investigation, the Marion County Prosecutor's Office has now filed bribery charges against Mr. Tanoos from the same FBI investigation. Mr. Tanoos has maintained his innocence during his cooperation with the investigation and will continue to vehemently deny the charges now filed. Mr. Tanoos has dedicated 20 years to the Vigo County School Corporation and its students as the Superindentent and is proud of that service. Because of that dedication Mr. Tanoos will aggresively fight these charges.
This post has been updated. Tyler Lake contributed to this report.
