CLAY COUNTY, Fla. — Darryl Daniels, the former Clay County sheriff who was acquitted of charges related to a public scandal over an affair in 2022, will be on the ballot in Nov. 2024 as he seeks to regain his place as top cop.
Daniels was removed from position by Gov. Ron DeSantis in August 2020 when he was arrested. He was charged with destroying evidence and giving false statements to police. Prosecutors said he ordered deputies to wrongfully arrest his mistress, wrongfully accusing her stalking him. At his Sept. 2022 trial, a jury found him not guilty of these crimes.
Daniels filed to run again in Sept. 2023. As of Friday, he has officially qualified and is listed on the Clay County elections website.
He will face incumbent Sheriff Michelle Cook, who is on the Republican ticket. Daniels has registered as non-party affiliated.
After his trial, Daniels released a statement comparing his situation to criminal accusations against former president Donald Trump, saying in part:
"This abuse cost me my job that I loved and it cost Clay County their sheriff. Similar to what we are seeing happen to former President Donald Trump and now with the Biden Administration working to hire 87,000 new IRS agents to harass and abuse Americans across the country, this type of government overreach has to stop. I look forward to identifying ways to continue to serve the people and working to ensure that the government works for them and not to persecute them."
What happened?
Daniels' arrest came after a long-running sex scandal investigation. He was charged with three counts of lying to law enforcement and one count of evidence tampering.
Daniels pleaded not guilty to the charges in 2020.
The investigation began in 2019, after officers claimed he instructed them to arrest his former lover, Cierra Smith, accusing her of stalking. She was detained for hours, but never charged.
According to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation, Daniels told his deputies Smith was a stalker and asked them to arrest her and book her into jail. The investigation also found the two had exchanged sexually explicit messages, videos and images and that Daniels had sent Smith $30,000 worth of Cash App transfers, according to documents.
FDLE opened an investigation into Daniels at the request of the State Attorney following the May 2019 arrest of Cierra Smith, based on his allegations of stalking. Daniels admitted to having an affair with Smith, his subordinate, for several years, a relationship that began when Daniels was the director of the Duval County Jail and Smith was a correctional officer. However, when he had her arrested, he told the officers the relationship was over.
Following his arrest, Daniels released a video public statement saying the charges were "baffling ... because it takes a stretching of the imagination to understand personally knowing that I'm innocent."
Discovery materials submitted to the court for Daniels' trial also included claims employees felt pressured to support Daniels' reelection bid.
As sheriff, Daniels was known for his high-profile drug busts. However, some subordinates began to worry he was using Sheriff's Office platforms to promote himself during election season.
One employee told investigators he asked her to re-post popular videos from earlier drug raids daily in the days leading up to the August primary.
CCSO attorney Jeff Davenport echoed that, telling FDLE, “my biggest concern [is] that they were sort of utilizing the narcotics and the publicity they could generate on social media in order to boost the Sheriff’s reelection chances.”
Other officers told investigators they feared retaliation if they didn't support the sheriff. One pointed to comments Daniels made at a police union meeting at which he allegedly said some officers were in for “a rude awakening” when he was reelected and that some “probably would not want to stick around because they’re not going to like where they’re put.”
One chief told investigators the sheriff specifically instructed him to raise donations from other ranking officers – suggesting ask each director to contribute $5,000 and each director to contribute $2,000.
Daniels was never charged in relation to these accusations.