WASHINGTON — The food truck driver charged with involuntary manslaughter in the crash that killed a Loudoun County mother of three will stay behind bars for the next several months.
In Loudoun County Circuit Court Wednesday, a judge denied bond for Tony Steven Dane and ordered him held until his trial in March.
Dane’s lawyers said he wouldn’t be a flight risk and his wife told the judge she’d make sure he’d work from home. But prosecutors noted Dane was already on a $42,000 bond for extortion and wiretapping charges in Nevada at the time of the Loudoun County crash.
The charges in Nevada stem from work as a political strategist, according to court records.
Dane was behind the wheel of the Dane’s Great American Hamburger food truck Sept. 8, when police said he ran a stop sign and crashed into 39-year-old Erin Kaplan’s Audi on Evergreen Mills Road in Leesburg. Kaplan was killed in the crash. Her three children and her mother all suffered serious injuries.
Dane had told police his brakes failed before the crash and he was unable to stop before slamming into Kaplan’s station wagon. Prosecutors said Dane knew the brakes on his converted 2000 Thomas school bus were soft but kept driving anyway.
In addition to involuntary manslaughter, Dane has also been charged with reckless driving, driving without a license, not having insurance and failing to have the food truck inspected.
