Clay sheriff arrested after investigation of sex scandal Daniels up for election in Tuesday primary
JACKSONVILLE — A Florida sheriff facing a primary contest within days was arrested Thursday following a sex scandal investigation at his previous job, authorities said.
Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels turned himself in to the jail in nearby Jacksonville on a felony charge of tampering with evidence and three misdemeanor counts of giving false information to law enforcement officers, the Florida Times-Union reported.
He was expected to be released without bond after being processed.
Daniels previously worked as the Jacksonville Sheriff ’s Office jails director. He was elected sheriff of Clay County, just southwest of Jacksonville, in 2016.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement confirmed an internal investigation last year into a corrections officer who had been Daniels’ mistress while he was her supervisor.
Officials said Daniels had tried to get the woman arrested in May 2019 on stalking allegations, and investigators told prosecutors there wasn’t enough evidence.
The woman resigned while under investigation for misconduct claims.
Daniels’ attorney Matt Kachergus told the Times-Union that the timing of the arrest seems suspicious in light of a primary election scheduled for Tuesday.
Daniels remains on the Tuesday ballot, where he faces six Republican challengers.
“It would appear that the timing of this is designed to influence the outcome of that election,” Kachergus said, adding he only learned two days ago that prosecutors planned to file charges.
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.
with his HOA for protecting and feeding feral cats should take action. Feral cats are an invasive (non-native) species that is decimating our native songbird populations. In Australia, species have gone extinct because of feral cats. Their poop can carry toxoplasmosis, a disease that can badly damage human eyes. Working in your yard can put you in contact with this disease. Eradication is the only solution, but cat wackos would rather an entire native species go extinct instead, and wildlife agencies don’t have the backbone to stand up to the cat militants and enforce the law against invasive species.
off at all of the people buying bottled water instead of drinking the water from their tap that comes from the same aquifer that the bottled water comes from for a lot less money! Plus all of those trashed plastic bottles that hold all of that water that you pay an enormous amount of money for doesn’t help the environment.
that there was communion at a local church. Yes, they tried to keep it safe but the virus can be spread from a person’s hands. I’m pretty sure Jesus would approve of people not taking that communion wafer until this virus is over.