Byron Donalds

At approximately age 18-19 in 1997, Byron Donalds was charged with marijuana possession (some reports describe the original allegation as distribution, which Donalds disputed). A Florida court granted him pretrial diversion, an alternative to jail, and the charge was ultimately dismissed by the state attorney after he paid a $150 fee. The matter did not result in a conviction. Donalds has spoken openly about it as part of a personal redemption story.

At age 18, Donalds was arrested on a misdemeanor marijuana distribution (or possession) charge in Leon County, Florida. He was allowed to enter a pre-trial diversion program, paid a $150 fine, and the charge was ultimately dismissed. Donalds later acknowledged publicly that he was also selling marijuana at the time, confirming accounts from his ex-wife.

In 2000, at around age 20-21, Byron Donalds was arrested in connection with a bank-fraud scheme. Records and reports describe the charge variously as a second-degree felony bribery charge or a felony theft charge; Donalds has characterized it as theft. By his own 2014 account, he was persuaded to participate in a scheme involving the deposit/cashing of bad checks (one account references roughly $1,000, another references about $7,000 in bad checks). He pleaded no contest to a felony theft charge and was sentenced to probation. His record was later sealed and ultimately expunged. Donalds has publicly acknowledged the episode.

At age 21 and attending Florida State University, Donalds was arrested on a second-degree felony bribery charge stemming from an alleged scheme to defraud a bank by depositing a bad check. He pleaded no contest, served probation, and paid restitution. The record was later sealed and then expunged after he entered the Florida state legislature. Under Florida law, Donalds was not legally required to disclose the expunged offense on subsequent applications.

Former Collier County School Board member Kelly Lichter filed a complaint with the Florida Commission on Ethics alleging that Donalds falsely stated on a 2014 application to serve on the Florida SouthWestern State College board of trustees that he had never been 'arrested, charged, or indicted' in any jurisdiction, despite his 1997 marijuana arrest and 2000 bribery charge. The Commission dismissed the complaint as legally insufficient, consistent with Donalds's position that his expunged record did not need to be disclosed under Florida law.