In State v. Tarver, No. 40603-2-III (Jul. 14, 2026), the WA Court of Appeals held that the word “compensation” in the Receiving Unlawful Compensation statute is not limited to receiving money. It also includes receiving sexual contact that a public servant receives in exchange for exercising official discretion to assist another with a “transaction.”
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
Mr. Tarver, a former Department of Children, Youth and Families (the Department) caseworker, was charged with several crimes after having sexual contact with a mother he was assigned to investigate. Following a bench trial, he was acquitted of extortion but convicted of perjury and Receiving Unlawful Compensation. On appeal, he challenges only his conviction for receiving unlawful compensation. He argued that sexual contact is not “compensation,” and a “transaction” does not include parent-child visitations or a dependency case.
COURT’S ANALYSIS & CONCLUSIONS
The Court of Appeals (COA) began its analysis by reviewing the Receiving Unlawful Compensation statute, which reads: “A person is guilty of receiving or granting unlawful compensation if,being a public servant, he or she requests, accepts, or agrees to accept compensation for advice or other assistance in preparing a bill, contract, claim, or transaction regarding which he or she knows he or she is likely to have an official discretion to exercise (emphasis added).
The COA ruled that the definition of “Compensation” is not limited to an economic or financial exchange. While compensation might include something of pecuniary value, nothing in its ordinary meaning limits compensation to an economic benefit.:
“Instead, the definition of compensation, along with the context in which the word is used in RCW 9A.68.030(1)(a), focuses on whether the thing received functioned as remuneration . . . In short, we conclude compensation and pecuniary benefit are not interchangeable or synonymous.” ~WA Court of Appeals
The COA also ruled that the word “transaction” includes visits between a parent and child or a dependency case that the public servant assists with:
“Here, the dependency action filed by the State was a communicative activity that involved and reciprocally affected the children (through the State) and Mr. Tarver, as a public servant, advised and assisted in preparing this transaction by providing testimony intended to influence the ultimate decision-maker and exercising discretional authority to determine the terms of visitation.” ~WA Court of Appeals
With that, the COA ruled that Tarver’s request for sexual contact was a request for compensation in exchange for his advice and assistance in preparing a transaction, which included R.J.’s visitation with her children and his influence in the dependency action.
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