
With a series of giggles which turned into snort laughs, I was able to get through a just-released story about Darryl Daniels in Clay Today. Daniels is Clay County’s disgraced former sheriff, who has returned from self-exile and registered to reclaim his position as our top cop.
Like a lot of fallen preachers and politicians, Daniels may well believe that time and tide have washed away his transgressions and wiped clean the memories of Clay voters.
While working in the jail at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO), Daniels had an extramarital affair with a very young female underling and afforded her lots and lots of benefits. Videos allegedly recorded some of those benefits during and after hours. When the JSO launched an investigation, he refused to be interviewed and retired.
His refusal kept the investigation in the dark while Daniels campaigned and was elected to be our sheriff.
Darryl Daniels, your response to this article would be welcome. Just write in the comments section below.
One of his first acts as sheriff appeared to ensure he would be sheriff for a long time. With county money, he hired a public relations and film crew at taxpayer expense. Daniels was “on call” to be filmed and allowed himself to be credited for the work of his deputies.
The giggles turned into snorts when Clay Today described one of Daniel’s performances after he had directed the arrest a bunch of hardened criminals—kids smoking weed. The sheriff had them handcuffed and lined up sitting on a curb as he stood before the camera all dressed up like the Outlander, drinking coffee.
The story described the scene:
“As the sheriff of Clay County, I’m telling you if you want to commit crimes in Clay County, you’ve got options...You can stop what you’re doing, you can leave Clay County, or you too will be on the receiving end of this.”
He then took a long swig of coffee and said, “Fifteen going to jail.” Three big gulps. “Y’all take care, Clay County.”
After this impressive display aired, his public relations crew got a local Orange Park coffee house to name a coffee blend after him.
There were more, equally impressive videos, and Daniels spent our money like it was his rich Nana’s, and he was the only grandbaby. Aside from his formation of his public relations department, the sheriff built himself a fiefdom.
He bought a bunch of new cars, trucks, and SUVs and tasked deputies that had been formerly out chasing bad guys to chauffeur him around like he was a king or a kingpin. He also tasked them to walk the streets with him in neighborhoods where folks tended to vote, while he shot the breeze, shook hands and handed out hand-sanitizer.
He spent heaps of money on travel, even when it was a stretch to link it to his duties as sheriff.
He spent another passel of money on fine white cowboy hats for himself, and deputies who were not easily embarrassed, to wear on duty.
The list of questionable expenses went on and on, but bless his heart, he also did some charitable stuff with our money.
On an unscheduled visit out west, Daniels met an actress who, as luck would have it, also did yoga. Thinking only of his men who had stressful jobs, he paid about $5,000 to bring the actress to Clay County to teach some Downward Dog and Chaturanga for a whole morning
Using the county funds to expand the cultural awareness Daniels and some friends in need of enlightenment took a county funded trip to the very center of art, music, and humanities—Disney World!
The editor said incorrectly that Daniels troubles “stemmed” from the JSO investigation of his coverup of the affair with the young female who worked under him. Quicker than a moon pie melts on a sidewalk in the hot Florida sun, he just kept the shenanigans going, but now as sheriff of Clay County.

Daniels’ wife, who proudly packs a pistol, found out about the JSO affair which, according to text evidence and testimony, was still ongoing. However, Daniels told his wife that it was over and that the young woman had been stalking him. He arranged for the arrest of his JSO girlfriend—now pregnant—at their usual rendezvous place, for stalking.
She said they had a prearranged meet-up. Texts show they were having regular conjugal visits, and he wanted “to kiss her bottom lip” and “would always stand behind her.”
After a year-long investigation, the FDLE charged the sheriff with a lot of lying, trying to destroy evidence, succeeding in destroying other evidence and using a national database for his own personal reasons. He was arrested, and the governor removed him from office.
His attorneys were able to postpone his trial for almost two years until Sept. 13, 2020. Yesterday marked two the two-year anniversary of the court’s not-guilty finding.
Not guilty, yes, but there was a lot of bad behavior the jury did not get to hear about.
According to someone closely involved in the investigation, Daniels’ lawyers convinced the judge that some evidence showed Daniels had “bad character” but had no bearing on the criminal charges, so it was thrown out as “prejudicial.” Hence, jurors never got to hear Daniel’s many escapades, which may not have broken any laws, but sure smelled like corruption.
For example, investigators found 1,700 text messages and videos on his phone—many salacious in nature and would have gotten him smited in the Biblical days.
Additionally, Several young women interviewed for this story and said they were stalked and terrified by Daniels. They said he asked them to “volunteer” with the CCSO. They were apprehensive about giving out their numbers, but were too intimidated not to. He then began to text them cheeky comments.
One of the young women was from Texas. She said someone showed Daniels her picture and gave him her name. She said he apparently used the CCSO access to national police database to find her age, birthday, cell phone number, address and place of employment. He called her and then texted her at 3:11 a.m. on her birthday.
Daniels told her he would be in town and asked her out. She said no and changed her cell number. But she lived in fear, knowing with one stroke of a key, he could find her again. After she was interviewed by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement about Daniels’ inappropriate contact, she received the following texts which appeared to be from a massage therapist in Clay County.

My daddy used to say that some people have skeletons, others have a whole dang graveyard.
While his lawyers kept Daniels’ proverbial skeletons out of court, they can’t keep them out of the court of public opinion. Those skeletons are dressing up now for the “Beetlejuice Day-O” dance and will surely make their debut during the run-up to the election.
To be continued.
Day-O
He may have done some things unbecoming of the position but he was not have surveillance on every person in the county. Michelle Cook has apparently never read 1984.