Under Arrest: Clay County Sheriff DARRYL DANIELS Charged With Five Felonies. (Jacksonville T-U)

THe long arm of the law reached out today and arrested anothern corrupt Florida Sheriff, DARRYL DANIELS.

 Congratulations to Folio Weekly, reporter Susan Armstrong, and former editor Georgio Valentino for their splendid work, helping put a corrupt Sheriff in jail.   

As a 20-something newspaper editor at the Appalachian Observer, I reported on corrupt Anderson County Sheriff Dennis O. Trotter, who went to federal prison for four years. When he got out, he wrote a five-figure check to settle the lawsuit I brought against him for stirring up a malicious lawsuit against me, alleging libel. From Jacksonville Times-Union: Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels facing arrest after sex scandal investigation Andrew Pantazi Florida Times-Union 0:00 1:04 AD Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels. [Bob Self/Florida Times-Union] Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels was arrested Thursday on one felony charge and three misdemeanors following a year-long investigation into a sex scandal. The scandal became public after the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, where Daniels previously worked as the jails director, announced an internal investigation into a corrections officer with whom Daniels had sex. Daniels had instructed his staff to arrest the woman in May 2019 on stalking allegations, and his staff told prosecutors they didn't feel there was just cause to arrest the woman. The woman, Cierra Smith, resigned while under investigation for misconduct claims. Prosecutors requested Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigate Daniels. The Jacksonville State Attorney's Office, though, couldn't move forward with prosecutions because of a conflict of interest. Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Ocala State Attorney Brad King as a special prosecutor. King's warrant for Daniels' arrest included a felony charge of tampering with evidence and three misdemeanor counts of giving false information to law enforcement. More:Clay sheriff says he’ll deputize every gun owner if deputies can’t handle protesters More:Sheriff’s swagger loses luster: Clay County’s once-promising top lawman is under scrutiny "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," Daniels' attorney Matt Kachergus told the Times-Union. "It would appear that the timing of this is designed to influence the outcome of that election." Daniels was booked in the jail Thursday evening, but he will be released without bond after he is processed. Clay County Sheriff's Office spokesman Andrew Ford said he had no comment. King's office and FDLE didn't return requests for comment. The governor's office also did not return a request for comment. Gov. Ron DeSantis has the authority to remove and replace Daniels. In the meantime, Daniels' undersheriff, Ray Walden, is the highest-ranking member of Daniels' leadership team. Daniels earned a reputation in Clay County for his tough-on-crime statements that would go viral on social media, including a recent video where he threatened to deputized every gun-owner in the county in response to Black Lives Matter protests, or a video where he used military tanks for marijuana arrests. First Coast News and News4Jax reported that King had first offered Daniels a non-prosecution deal if he would resign, but that Daniels refused to do so. Daniels' attorney wouldn't confirm or deny if that happened. Daniels is a first-term sheriff up for re-election who has said he wants to one day be a congressman. He is being challenged by six opponents, including former Atlantic Beach Police Chief Michelle Cook, former Clay County Sheriff’s Office Emergency Management Director Ben Carroll, former Clay County Commissioner Harold Rutledge and Mike Taylor, a former FDLE agent and state attorney’s investigator. He remains on Tuesday's ballot. Kachergus said that he only learned of the State Attorney's Office's intention to file charges two days ago. He said prosecutors allege that the tampering with evidence has something to do with a phone, but Kachergus said he still hasn't gotten a copy of the warrant.