Darryl Joyner, of the Bronx, charged with child endangerment in case involving missing Patchogue girl, court documents show

A second state worker has been arrested for inappropriate conduct involving a 15-year-old Patchogue girl who has been in state custody since she was discovered on a yacht in Islip following her 25-day disappearance last winter, court records show.

Darryl Joyner, 57, of the Bronx, is accused of offering the girl drugs in exchange for seeing her nude while she stayed at a juvenile detention center in Suffolk County May 1, according to a criminal complaint. Joyner pleaded not guilty to a single charge of endangering the welfare of a child at his arraignment before District Court Judge Scott Carrigan in Central Islip Monday, records show.

Newsday is not naming the girl because she is a minor and the alleged victim of a crime.

Suffolk police detectives allege Joyner, a longtime employee of the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, offered Percocet and a vape pen to the girl if she would "show [Joyner] her breast," the charging document shows.

The girl reported the incident to Suffolk detectives in a sworn statement June 10, according to the complaint.

Joyner was arrested following a recorded interview with detectives at the Fourth Precinct in Smithtown early Monday morning, court records show. He was released without bail on the misdemeanor charge and will be assigned counsel when he returns to court July 11.

Joyner told Newsday Tuesday that none of the allegations against him are true, that he’s never brought contraband into a facility where he’s working, and that he’s now in the process of getting in contact with a lawyer.

He said he's worked for the state more than 30 years and at the local detention center for the past five.

"It was just all accusations cause a youth was upset and verbally, just mad, and kids don’t get they way they start telling lies, and that’s basically all it is," Joyner told a reporter.

He said employees at the facility are searched daily before entering the building.

"In all my years of working for the state I never brought anything in, no contraband or nothing," Joyner said.

The state Office of Children and Family Services operates the detention center as part of its juvenile justice program. It houses girls between 12 and 18 years old who have been placed there by Family Court, according to its website.

In a statement the day after the story published, a spokesperson for the office said, "All allegations of abuse and neglect of youth in OCFS-operated facilities are referred to the New York State Justice Center for Protection of People with Special Needs for investigation, and therefore we cannot comment further."

State payroll records show Joyner, who was recognized for 25 years of service with OCFS in a February 2018 agency newsletter, works as a youth support specialist, according to SeeThroughNY.net. He earned $97,880 in 2024.

The arrest marks the second time a state worker has been accused of inappropriate contact with the girl since she was found aboard the yacht Jan. 3. She was 14 at the time.

Deshaun McClean, 43, of Deer Park, was charged Feb. 3 with misdemeanor sexual abuse of the same Patchogue while she was being treated at nearby Sagamore Children’s Psychiatric Center in Dix Hills, where he worked as an aide with employed by the State Office of Mental Health.

McClean was accused of touching the girl inappropriately and watching her touch herself. He has also pleaded not guilty and was placed on leave pending the outcome of his case, an agency spokesperson said.

The Patchogue girl first made headlines after her father reported her missing Dec. 9 setting off a weekslong effort on social media to find her.

Prosecutors later said the girl, who was a subject of GPS monitoring by county law enforcement, cut off an ankle monitor and left her family home with 35-year-old Alton Harrell of Bellport before ending up in three additional locations with men accused of raping her.

A dozen Suffolk residents who interacted with the girl before she was found on the yacht, owned by Francis Buckheit, 65, of East Islip, have since been indicted on charges ranging from kidnapping to child sex trafficking and criminal sale of a controlled substance, court records show.

All 12 other defendants have pleaded not guilty and are being housed at the Suffolk County jail pending trial.