Ex-DMV Agent Admits Accepting Bribes From Attorneys for Drivers

A former hearing officer for the state Department of Motor Vehicles pleaded no contest Friday to a charge of accepting bribes from lawyers for negligent drivers who did not want to lose their licenses.

Michael R. Tarrish, 47, of Artesia is scheduled to be sentenced June 19 in Los Angeles Superior Court.

In accepting the plea of no contest, which is legally equivalent to a plea of guilty, Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Healey told Tarrish, “We expect your full cooperation in any subsequent proceedings against any of those attorneys” from whom Tarrish admitted accepting money.

Prosecution Possible

Healey said later that a decision on whether to prosecute any of the six lawyers named by Tarrish, who worked in the DMV’s Long Beach office, will be made within the next few weeks.

Between January and October of last year, the lawyers either loaned money to Tarrish, took him to lunch or offered other gifts, including fake smog certificates for his own vehicles, to assure his lenient treatment of their clients, Tarrish told DMV investigators. He said the loans and gifts were valued at about $2,000.

Outside the courtroom of Los Angeles Municipal Judge Glenette Blackwell, who accepted Tarrish’s plea, defense attorney Larry Guzin said, “ . . . It’s been a terrible ordeal for Mr. Tarrish and his family. . . . “ Tarrish said he had nothing to add to his lawyer’s remarks.

The maximum punishment under the law for bribery is four years in state prison.

Probation Exam

However, under an agreement reached by Healey and Guzin, the district attorney’s office will argue at the sentencing hearing that Tarrish should be committed to state prison for a 90-day examination to determine if he is a suitable candidate for probation.

If corrections officials subsequently recommend probation, “then we retain the option to argue for up to one year in the County Jail” as a condition of that probation, Healey said. If the officials call for a term in state prison, Tarrish will be allowed to withdraw his no-contest plea, Healey added, and the case will go to trial.

Guzin declined to outline the position he will take at Tarrish’s sentencing hearing. “I’m going to make my arguments that day,” he said.

Three other charges filed against Tarrish last March--one count of corrupt misconduct and two counts involving the allegedly phony smog certificates--will be dismissed if the no-contest plea to the bribery count stands, the lawyers said.

Accepted Sexual Favors

Tarrish, a 20-year veteran of the DMV, was fired from his job as a principal driver safety referee last January after he spent hours with DMV investigators describing his relationships with the lawyers. Tarrish also told the investigators that he had on several occasions accepted sexual favors from women in exchange for favorable rulings on license cases.

Tarrish was one of nearly 140 safety referees who hear tens of thousands of cases involving motorists who have accumulated too many tickets or who have drinking or medical problems that threaten their ability to drive. The referees have wide latitude to uphold or set aside actions taken by the DMV to revoke or suspend driver’s licenses.