A former assistant district attorney in northeastern Oklahoma pleaded guilty to charges in Tulsa federal court Wednesday, less than three months after his arrest on allegations that he traded court favors for sex.
Daniel Thomas Giraldi, 44, a former assistant district attorney for Ottawa and Delaware counties, admitted to one count of possession of Oxycodone with intent to distribute and four counts of honest services fraud in connection with performing favorable court actions through corrupt means.
An arrest warrant approved April 25 alleged that Giraldi, of Joplin, Missouri, used his position as an assistant district attorney to have sex with defendants in exchange for favorable actions on cases filed in state court there.
A grand jury named Giraldi in a 14-count indictment filed May 18 that charged him with one count of bribery, one count of traveling interstate to aid in racketeering, one count of possession of Oxycodone with intent to distribute, one count of possession of Clonazepam with intent to distribute and 10 counts of using a communication facility in the commission of drug trafficking.
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A superseding indictment filed July 6 in federal court swapped the bribery count for four counts of honest services fraud and kept the remaining counts.
Giraldi worked in the District Attorney District 13 office from 2019 until April 20, according to court records.
Before becoming an assistant district attorney, Giraldi worked in a private law firm, according to court documents filed in the case.
It was while Giraldi worked as a defense attorney in the private law firm that he began accepting sexual favors from women in exchange for helping others facing criminal charges and as payment for services rendered, according to the FBI.
A person identified only as “unindicted individual 1” developed an understanding with Giraldi while he was a private attorney that consisted of the unnamed person making other women available to Giraldi for sex acts in exchange for favorable action in a specific court case.
One person, identified only as cooperating witness 1, engaged in sex acts with Giraldi on numerous occasions as payment for legal services for “unindicted individual 1” and others, according to the indictment.
While an assistant district attorney, Giraldi, also known as “Vegas G,” “Vegas,” and just “G,” would reduce bond amounts, provide favorable treatment on other charges and in one instance, dismiss a driving while intoxicated charge entirely in exchange for sexual favors, the grand jury alleged.
One of the women, described as cooperating witness 1, met Giraldi April 12 outside the Ottawa County Courthouse, where she asked him to look into two child custody cases — hers and another woman’s, according to court records.
The meeting was video and audio recorded by the FBI, according to court records.
Giraldi and the woman later agreed to meet April 19 at a Quapaw home for sex, the documents allege.
After arriving at the home and giving the woman a bag of pills he pulled out of a shirt pocket, the FBI entered the room and confronted Giraldi, according to the documents.
Giraldi later admitted to FBI agents that he was going to give the woman the pills in exchange for sex after searching government records for any outstanding warrants involving the woman.
As part of the plea agreement, Giraldi has agreed to forfeit his Oklahoma Bar Association license and never hold any public office or hold any position of public trust within the state of Oklahoma.
He faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of not more than $1 million at his sentencing.
