Former FCI Dublin officer ordered to pay $120K legal fees

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Carla "Sissi" Smith enters the Oakland federal courthouse with her husband, former FCI Dublin correctional officer Darrell "Dirty Dick" Smith, during the first day of his second sex abuse trial. Sept. 2, 2025

OAKLAND, Calif. - A former FCI Dublin correctional officer whose sex crime charges were dismissed after two mistrals has been ordered to pay some of his legal fees because a federal judge found him to have twice "mispresented" his finances, court documents show.

‘Small fraction of cost’

U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers on Dec. 22 told Darrell "Dirty Dick" Wayne Smith that he must pay $120,000 for the cost of his lawyers, at a pace of $1,000 a month.

She noted that this is a "small fraction of the cost" and that he might be hiding even more assets, but "for now," she wrote, "the Court finds that this amount suffices."

His attorneys, Naomi Chung and Joanna Sheridan, were not immediately available for comment on Tuesday.

‘Public version of order’

Much of Smith's personal finances were filed under seal, but Gonzalez Rogers wrote that "given the importance of the issue to the public, and the use of public funds, the court issues a public version of this order" and sealed only information that was "appropriately private."

"The defendant did not provide the Court with an accurate depiction of his finances," Gonzalez Rogers wrote.

Ten former correctional officers at FCI have been charged with sex crimes at the now-closed women's prison.

Smith is the only one of 10 correctional officers at the now-closed FCI Dublin women's prison to not have been found guilty of sex crimes. The other nine either were found guilty by juries or pleaded guilty. Most have been sentenced to prison.

Two hung juries ultimately led the U.S. Attorney's Office in November not to see a third trial against Smith, and charges against him were dismissed.

But even if he is no longer facing criminal issues, Gonzalez Rogers said Smith did not state the whole truth on his financial affidavit when he was first indicted for abusive sexual contact and sexual abuse of a ward in 2023.

Claims he couldn't afford counsel

During his first arraignment, Smith provided a statement that he could hire a private attorney.

But then in April 2024, Smith "claimed he was no longer able to afford counsel," and he requested help from a program known as the Criminal Justice Act Panel, which is run by the Office of the Federal Public Defender.

The panel is a group of court-approved attorneys who are appointed by judges to represent people in criminal cases who are unable for financial reasons to retain counsel. The appointments are made on a rotating basis among members of the panel. The CJA assures that defendants who can't pay are provided an adequate defense under the Sixth Amendment.

Gonzalez Rogers said she granted that request, citing Smith's assertion of his "negative net assets," though the full amount was redacted from the court documents.

The revelation of Smith's full financial picture came to light when his team put his ex-wife, Cala Sisi-Smith on the stand during his second trial in March.

She testified that she and her husband bought and sold millions of dollars of real estate and other investments, even though it was sometimes at a loss. Several of those properties were transferred to her near the time of his first indictment, which Smith had not disclosed, the judge wrote.

Couple owns millions

For example, the Smith’s joint tax returns from 2018 show total proceeds of over $3 million with a realized loss of over $41,000. The 2019 records show over $14 million in total proceeds with a realized loss of under $1 million and the 2020 records show over $8 million in total proceeds with a realized loss of over $4 million, court records show. Moreover, the judge wrote that the Smiths "also appear to maintain significant investment accounts" and previously ran an LLC that rented beach homes in Florida, according to court documents.

Gonzalez Rogers wrote that Smith had to have known criminal charges and civil allegations were coming, before he got divorced and transferred a lot of property into his wife's name.

An email from a reporter to Smith in June 2022 relayed the criminal allegations against him, he bought professional liability insurance five months later, and he began selling some properties, like a beach-front condo in Florida, where he now lives, to "free up some cash," court records show.

Plus, a colleague also told him he was going to be sued in May 2023, and the next day, he and Sisi-Smith filed a dissolution of marriage, dividing their assets so that he would retain the gun and coin collections along with several cars, jewelry and tools and his retirement account valued at $250,000. And his ex-wife, on the other hand, got a lot more of the assets including the main home, the second home, 30 parcels of land, stock investments and two other cars.

In 2024, Smith began engaging in financial transactions with previously undisclosed funds, the judge wrote. He took out $79,000 from the bank, and in February of this year bought two cars for nearly $100,000.

"Even more troubling, defendant and his ex-wife divorced and attempted to divide their assets such that they might be insulated from liability," the judge wrote. "The Court will not turn a blind eye to Sisi-Smith’s assets given their admitted misconduct and attempts to evade financial liability. No other valid reason has been given for the conduct."

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