Joplin attorney who traded drugs and legal favors for sex pleads guilty

 (From the U. S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma)

A former Ottawa County Assistant District Attorney pleaded guilty in federal court after he provided drugs and performed favorable legal actions that benefitted defendants in exchange for sex, announced U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson.

Daniel Thomas Giraldi, 44, of Joplin, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of Oxycodone with intent to distribute (Count 1) and four counts of honest services fraud (Counts 14-17). Giraldi will be sentenced by a federal judge at a later date.

Per the stipulations in the plea agreement, Giraldi will relinquish and forfeit his Oklahoma Bar License and never apply for reinstatement to the Oklahoma Bar. He will also never hold any public office nor any position of public trust within the state of Oklahoma.

“Daniel Giraldi disgraced the office of Assistant District Attorney,” said U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson. “As a public servant, he had a duty to act with integrity and competence. Instead, he violated the law and the trust placed in him by the District Attorney and the people of Ottawa County. Investigators with the Miami Police Department, District Attorney’s Office, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and FBI were unyielding in their pursuit of justice in this case, thus ensuring Giraldi’s conviction.”

“The citizens of Ottawa County entrusted Daniel Giraldi to represent them ethically and transparently,” said FBI Oklahoma City Special Agent in Charge Edward Gray. “In a reprehensible misuse of public trust, he exploited his position and undermined the integrity of the District Attorney’s Office. The FBI stands firm with our law enforcement partners in rooting out all forms of public corruption, no matter the person, position, or purpose.”

In the plea agreement, Giraldi admitted that on April 19, 2022, he carried and possessed Oxycodone with intent to distribute. Giraldi had texted a defendant approximately a week earlier and agreed to bring the drug when the two rendezvoused for sex.

Giraldi further admitted to defrauding the citizens of Oklahoma and the Ottawa County District Attorney’s Office of their right to honest and faithful services that he owed to them as an Assistant District Attorney, stating that he took bribes in exchange for corrupt official acts that benefitted defendants. 

Specifically, he stated that he would receive something of value, including sexual acts with multiple women, in exchange for favorable treatment that included reduction of bond amounts on criminal defendants, the dismissal of traffic violations, and other corrupt actions. The crimes occurred from approximately February 2019 through April 19, 2022.

The FBI, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Miami Police Department, and District Attorney’s Office-District 13 conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kyle M. McWaters is prosecuting the case.