Toledo businessman pleads not guilty

8/25/2010

John Briggle, the Toledo businessman accused of scheming with former Toledo Public Schools administrator Daniel Burns in stealing money from the district, was arraigned Tuesday in Lucas County Common Pleas Court. Briggle, 56, pleaded not guilty to each charge of a seven-count indictment handed up last week by a grand jury.

Judge James Bates scheduled a trial on the charges - one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and six counts of tampering with records - for Nov. 2. Briggle was ordered released on his own recognizance. He and former TPS business manager Daniel Burns, who was charged last week in a 25-count indictment, are accused of defrauding the school district of $687,694.75 between 2002 and 2006.

Authorities said Burns and Briggle orchestrated a scheme in which Briggle's printing company, Superior Offset Supplies, billed the district for thousands of dollars' worth of supplies and services that were not delivered.

Briggle is to appear Tuesday before Judge Bates to be sentenced for defrauding Toledo Hospital of

$149,117 between 2002 and 2004.

He faces up to five years in prison.

Burns, 54, was sentenced last month in the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court to six years in prison after a jury found him guilty of defrauding Cleveland schools of nearly $155,000. Briggle entered into a plea agreement and was sentenced in early August to four years in prison.