DMV Official Admits Taking Bribe and Sex

A hearing officer who was dismissed Tuesday from his job with the state Department of Motor Vehicles told The Times that he had accepted bribes of money and sex in exchange for allowing problem drivers to keep their licenses.

Michael R. Tarrish, 47, who worked at the department’s Long Beach office, also said that he had solicited loans totaling about $2,000 over an eight-month period from five lawyers whose clients appeared before him. One lawyer also furnished him with falsified smog certificates that allowed him to register his private vehicles without subjecting them to emissions tests, Tarrish said.

Tarrish said he asked for the loans at a time when he was having severe financial problems. He said he did not consider the loans to be bribes because he intended to repay the money, although he has yet to do so. He added, however, “It may appear like the decisions were in their favor. That may be true in part.”

Tarrish, whose job title was principal driver safety referee, said his dismissal surprised and angered him because he had been cooperating with DMV investigators who were looking into the bribery allegations.

“It really disturbs me that they used me like this,” said the former hearing officer, who had worked for the department for more than 20 years.

Tarrish said he had not presided over license hearings since Nov. 6, when he was formally notified that he was under investigation.

In the interview, Tarrish acknowledged that on one occasion last year, he accepted $300 from a Los Angeles lawyer in exchange for reinstating the license of a client who had accumulated too many traffic citations.

That, Tarrish said, “was a direct bribe.”

The attorney, Tarrish recalled, “said that his client had paid him a large amount of money to represent him on a case, and that he would give me $500 out of it. . . . I ended up with $300, which I picked up in his office. . . . I borrowed a hundred from him later on.”

Once, Tarrish said, he had sex with a woman in return for a favorable ruling.

“That only happened once,” he said. “I guess I set aside a suspension in return for sexual favors.”

Tarrish said he had been led to believe that he would not lose his job, in return for his cooperation.

“I made my mistakes, I’m not denying that, but I don’t want to see the DMV get away scot-free on this, because they’re not as pure and white as they think they are,” he said.

In addition to the bribery charges, DMV investigators are looking into allegations that Tarrish falsified records, said Julie C. Mansfield, who heads the department’s special operations unit in Sacramento.

The special operations unit, whose members are sworn peace officers, looks into allegations of criminal conduct by department employees.

The DMV probe also is focusing on the attorneys who had dealings with him, Tarrish said. “They’ve been working like dogs to get a case against these attorneys,” he added.

Rare Kind of Probe

In an interview conducted before Tarrish talked to The Times, Mansfield would say only that, “We are investigating quite a few individuals in this case.” She added that she does not recall any similar investigations in recent years.

The inquiry should be completed by the end of the month, Mansfield said, and the evidence gathered will be turned over to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. The district attorney must then decide whether to file criminal charges.

The probe began in early September, after a private citizen complained to the department, Mansfield said. She would not reveal the nature of the complaint. Since then, investigators have reviewed Tarrish’s decisions in more than 100 cases over the last two years, according to a source familiar with the case.

“We pulled a lot of data, which takes time, and once you have to evaluate and look at all the hearings that have transpired . . it takes quite a bit of analysis,” Mansfield said.

Sex Can Be Bribe

She would not comment directly on the subject of sexual favors, but did say that accepting sex in exchange for performing an official act could be considered bribery under California law.

Accepting a bribe as a public official is a felony punishable by up to four years in state prison. The maximum sentence for filing a falsified public record, also a felony, is three years.

Tarrish was dismissed Tuesday, Mansfield said, because, “there was sufficient information received . . . that he should be dismissed. There was no need to keep him on as an employee.” She declined further explanation.

Tarrish joined the department in November, 1966.

Presides at Hearings

A driver safety referee presides over hearings held at the request of motorists whose right to drive is threatened because they have been involved in more than three accidents in a year or have been cited for an excessive number of speeding or other traffic offenses.

During the hearing, the errant drivers, who often are represented by attorneys, attempt to save their licenses from suspension or revocation.

The hearings can be formal or informal, said James Dunn, an official in the department’s driver safety section.

In an informal hearing, the hearing officer makes a decision on the spot. In formal proceedings, the officer hears the sworn testimony of witnesses, including police officers, and then makes a recommendation to a superior, who makes the final decision.

Can Charge Hearing

An attorney or a motorist who initially requests a formal hearing can later ask the hearing officer to conduct an informal hearing instead. A senior hearing officer such as Tarrish would normally be expected to conduct formal hearings, but Tarrish handled both formal and informal proceedings, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

Since the investigation of Tarrish began, Dunn said, top DMV officials have instructed local office managers to more closely monitor decisions made by hearing officers.

“The managers should and will be reviewing all the cases . . . to make sure our people are taking the proper actions, and not setting aside actions that should be sustained. It’s a quality control problem that, believe me, has been addressed.”