Prominent attorney pleads not guilty in alleged conspiracy to bribe Dallemand

A prominent Tallahassee attorney pleaded not guilty Tuesday to allegations he participated in a conspiracy to bribe former Bibb County schools superintendent Romain Dallemand.

Harold Knowles, 69, is part owner of Pinnacle/CSG, a Florida-based construction company that was contracted to provide software to the Bibb school system in 2012. He’s accused of offering Dallemand bribes to obtain other contracts for Pinnacle with the school system, although the contracts never materialized.

Authorities have alleged Knowles acted as a middle-man, paying Dallemand bribes from former Macon-Bibb Industrial Authority Chairman Cliffard Whitby using one of Knowles’ law firm’s bank accounts.

With his attorney at his side, Knowles entered his plea during a brief hearing at the federal courthouse in Macon on Tuesday.

Attorney Jack L. McLean Jr. issued a written statement on his client’s behalf Tuesday afternoon saying he wants to “make it abundantly clear that these charges are false” and that Knowles “maintains his innocence without equivocation.”

McLean said Knowles has more than four decades of “untarnished reputation” in the legal and business communities and is a “man of impeccable character and integrity.”

“At the conclusion of the case, my client and I are confident that the Macon community and the Bibb County judiciary system will render a fair, just and correct decision and my client will be vindicated,” he said.

Knowles, founder of one of north Florida’s oldest black law firms, resigned as general counsel for the Florida A&M University Foundation after being indicted, the Tallahassee Democrat has reported.

He was among the first three black students to integrate Leon County public schools in Tallahassee in 1963, according to a biography provided by McLean.

After serving a stint as an assistant attorney general, Knowles opened his law practice in 1974.

In 1999 he was appointed by then-Gov. Jeb. Bush to serve on Florida’s Lottery Commission and in 2001 to serve on the Florida Federal Judicial Nominating Commission, according to the biography.

Knowles has served two four-year terms on the Board of Trustees for Florida State University.

McLean also has filed a motion in Bibb County schools’ multimillion-dollar lawsuit asking a judge to set aside a subpoena for banking accounts belonging to Knowles, Knowles’ wife, Knowles’ law firm, Pinnacle and Pinnacle’s president Cory McFarlane.

The lawsuit alleges Dallemand; Pinnacle; McFarlane; Macon businessman Isaac Culver III and his company, Progressive Consulting Technologies Inc.; former school technology director Tom Tourand; and Comptech Computer Technologies Inc. and its president and CEO, Allen J. Stephen conspired in a scheme to sell the school district unneeded or nonexistent services and products in 2012.

Progressive, Culver and Culver’s business partner Dave Carty, were indicted on federal fraud charges this summer.

A hearing on Knowles’ motion, and other matters in the case, is set for next week.

This story was originally published August 22, 2017 at 3:57 PM with the headline "Prominent attorney pleads not guilty in alleged conspiracy to bribe Dallemand."