A Florida sheriff just days away from a reelection primary has been arrested on felony and misdemeanor charges of ordering the arrest of an alleged mistress with whom he worked at his previous job, according to multiple news reports.
Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels surrendered to authorities Thursday at the Jacksonville jail and was booked on one felony charge of tampering with evidence and three misdemeanor counts of giving false information to law enforcement, the Florida Times-Union reported.
Daniels recently made national news headlines after saying he would deputize all citizen gun owners in response to Black Lives Matter protests. Since being elected, he has built a steady reputation for being tough on crime, the Times-Union reported.
The special prosecutor in the case, Brad King, gave Daniels an ultimatum Thursday to either resign or be arrested, according to First Coast News. Instead, Daniels turned himself in.
Hours later, Daniels was released without bond, and the sheriff released a statement criticizing the investigation, saying he refused a deal from King in exchange for his resignation and dropping out of the sheriff’s race, the Times-Union reported.
“I want you to look past the smoke screen of dirty politics,” said Daniels, who’s still in his first term. “One thing I take ownership of as a man is my failures as a husband. That has nothing to do with me as a sheriff.”
The charges stemmed from Daniels’ time as the jail director for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, before he was elected sheriff of neighboring Clay County in 2016.
The yearlong internal investigation revealed in May 2019 that Daniels had a sexual relationship with one of his female corrections officers for several years, according to reports.
The same month the investigation came to light, Daniels reportedly ordered his deputies to arrest the woman for stalking, but investigators later found there wasn’t enough evidence for him to do so, the Times-Union reported.
The woman Daniels supervised ultimately resigned as the misconduct investigation was still ongoing.
The primary election is next Tuesday, and Daniels remains on the ballot with six Republican challengers.
Daniels’ attorney Matt Kachergus told the Times-Union that the timing of the arrest appeared politically motivated because of the approaching vote.
“I find the timing of the obtaining of a warrant and pressing of charges suspicious in light of an election that’s pending five days from now,” Kachergus said. “It would appear that the timing of this is designed to influence the outcome of that election.”
To avoid a conflict of interest, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis assigned the case to the State Attorney’s Office in Ocala, which does not handle Clay County or Jacksonville cases. The governor has the authority to suspend local elected officials charged with felonies, though no suspension had been issued Thursday night.
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