TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Former Vigo County School Superintendent Dan Tanoos was in a Marion County Court room Wednesday for an initial hearing on three felony charges of bribery.

He is accused of accepting and soliciting gifts including meals, concert tickets and alcohol from Energy Systems Groups.

During the short hearing a pretrial date was set for November 21st and a trial date was set for December 6th.

He remains free on his own recognizance and cant leave the state without the judges permission.

Tanoos’s attorneys James Voyles and Jennifer Lukemeyer released a statement on his behalf saying that Tanoos maintains his innocence, is proud of his service for students in Vigo County Schools and will aggressivly fight the charges

The full statement is below:

“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 Superintendent and is proud of that service. Because of that dedication Mr. Tanoos will aggressively fight these charges.
On behalf of Daniel Tanoos,
James H. Voyles and Jennifer M. Lukemeyer
Attorneys for Daniel Tanoos”