Former Ottawa County Prosecutor Sentenced After Seeking Sexual Favors from Defendants in Exchange for Favorable Treatment in Court Proceedings

A former Ottawa County Assistant District Attorney pleaded guilty on July 13, 2022, 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.

Today, U.S. District Judge Raul Arias-Marxuach, sentenced Daniel Thomas Giraldi, 44, of Joplin, to 30 months in prison followed by 3 year term of supervision upon release. In July of 2022, Giraldi plead guilty to one count of possession of Oxycodone with intent to distribute and four counts of honest services fraud.

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.

“As a public servant to the people of Ottawa County, Daniel Giraldi disgraced the office of Assistant District Attorney,” said U.S. Attorney Clint Johnson. “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. Investigators were unyielding in their pursuit of justice in this case, thus ensuring Giraldi’s conviction.”

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

Daniel Thomas Giraldi was permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

The FBI, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, Miami Police Department, and District Attorney’s Office-District 13 investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kyle McWaters and Shannon Cozzoni prosecuted the case.