Former East Bay Prison Officer Charged With More Sex Crimes Against Women in His Custody

A former correctional officer charged with sexually abusing women who were incarcerated at an East Bay federal prison has been indicted on additional charges, including a civil rights violation, the U.S. attorney’s office said Friday.

Darrell Wayne Smith, 55, was first indicted last year on 12 sexual abuse charges involving three women in his custody at FCI Dublin between 2019 and 2021.

In a superseding indictment issued Thursday by a federal grand jury, Smith is accused of sexually abusing two additional women as far back as 2016. The indictment also adds a third new charge for a federal civil rights violation tied to Smith’s alleged aggravated abuse of one of the women, bringing the total charges to 15.

Some of the acts were described as “brazen and violent” by Justice Department Inspector Michael Horowitz.

“The defendant’s alleged actions are some of the most disturbing charges we’ve seen for a former federal corrections officer,” Michael Nordwall, executive assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch, said in a statement. “Sexual abuse scars everyone who survives it but can be particularly traumatizing when it’s perpetrated by someone in a position of trust or authority.”

FCI Dublin recently closed its doors following years of sexual misconduct scandals, criminal investigations and lawsuits.

Smith is one of eight former Dublin correctional staff to be criminally charged with sexual abuse of women incarcerated at the facility. Seven others have already been sentenced.

He is set to go on trial in March, and if convicted, he faces a potential life sentence.