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Daniels suspended as Clay County Sheriff following arrest

Embattled sheriff faces one felony, three misdemeanor charges related to affair

By Don Coble don@opcfla.com
Posted 8/19/20

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels Aug. 14 after the embattled sheriff was arrested a day earlier following a year-long investigation by the …

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Daniels suspended as Clay County Sheriff following arrest

Embattled sheriff faces one felony, three misdemeanor charges related to affair


Posted

GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels Aug. 14 after the embattled sheriff was arrested a day earlier following a year-long investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the State Attorney’s Office.

Five days later, Clay County voters officially removed him from office by electing Michelle Cook at the next sheriff.

DeSantis selected Matt Walsh of the Jacksonville Florida Department of Law Enforcement office on Aug. 15 to serve as the interim sheriff.

DeSantis’ executive order states Daniels can’t serve as the county’s sheriff or be paid until a new executive order is issued after one felony charge of destroying evidence and three misdemeanor charges of making false claims a former lover was stalking him.

The order states “State Attorney for the Fifth Judicial Circuit to the Fourth Judicial Circuit to represent the State of Florida relating to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s investigation of Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels for allegations of official misconduct, pursuant to section 27.151(3), Florida Statutes, is no longer confidential.”

Daniels lost his bid to win reelection to Cook on Tuesday. Former Atlantic Beach Police Chief and Clay High graduate won the Republican nomination after garnering 37% of the vote in the six-candidate race. Daniels was second with 29%.

If Daniels had won, he would have remained suspended until his legal issues were resolved – or if DeSantis permanently removed him from office.

Daniels has maintained his innocence and said the timing of his arrest – five days before the primary – appeared to be politically motivated.

He issued the following statement shortly after Cook won the election:

“These politically motivated charges that have been made against Sheriff Daniels and announced right before the election combined with dirty politics from other campaigns by closing the election through recruiting a write-in candidate resulted in more than 10,000 Clay County voters not casting a vote in the race for Sheriff. This resulted in the electing of a St. Johns County resident to now serve as the likely Sheriff. Sheriff Daniels appreciates the support from the voters of Clay County and is calling for a review of this travesty that was committed on Clay County voters.”

Daniels was referring to a write-in candidate, who also gave donations to Harold Rutledge’s campaign, that triggered an unusual Florida law. With no Democrats in the race, the primary was supposed to be open to all voters. But when Rutledge supporter Francis Bourrie entered the race, it excluded Democrats and voters who don’t identify with a political party – 70,848 registered voters – from participating in the race for sheriff.

Bourrie withdrew from the race on Wednesday.

According to information filed at the Clay County Courthouse, the embattled sheriff was charged with felony charge of tampering with evidence by asking the CCSO information technology office to delete information and destroy his cellphone and three misdemeanor charges for making “knowingly false” claims he was being stalked by a former girlfriend. The FDLE was asked to investigate whether Daniels abused his authority by demanding his former lover, Cierra Smith, be arrested.

King’s options were made public five days before the primary election that essentially will determine who will run the sheriff’s office for the next four years.

Clay County Supervisor of Elections Chris Chambless said the charges didn’t exclude Daniels from running for office. Daniels kept votes already cast for him, as well as any that are casted until the polls close Tuesday night, Chambless said.

Cook finished with 14,483 votes, while Daniels had 11,362.

Daniels’ problems started when Cierra Smith went public about an affair that started when both worked at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Jail. Daniels admitted to the affair after he called CCSO to have Smith arrested in an Oakleaf parking lot. He said she was stalking him.

Smith was briefly detained at the jail, but was released without charges.

DeSantis then received an anonymous letter from a deputy or officer at CCSO, claiming Daniels made threatening remarks during a morning briefing. Daniels reportedly was angry someone within the department had been leaking information to Facebook about the incident. The anonymous officer said Daniels wanted to “determine who it was and murder the [expletive] that leaked it.”

Daniels not only questioned the timing of King’s findings, but the unusual options he gave the sheriff.

Daniels said King told him to resign immediately, remove his name from the current ballot, return campaign funds and promise to never run for office in the Fourth Judicial Circuit again or face charges.

“Listen, there’s been folks who’ve tried to bully me in my life and that’s one thing Daniels made his first appearance Aug. 14 and he pleaded not guilty.