A recently part-time, elected, and now retired judge in Arkansas is charged with trading legal favors for sex. Judge Thomas David Carruth, 63, was arrested last week after being accused of trying to trade sex in exchange for judicial favors. He is also accused of lying about the incidents to the FBI.

The U.S. Eastern District Court of Arkansas indicted former Judge Carruth on three counts of honest services wire fraud, three counts of using a facility in interstate commerce in furtherance of unlawful activity, one count of making false statements, and one count of obstruction of justice. He is pleading innocent to all charges.

The charges initially came to the authorities’ notice after Carruth allegedly told a woman that if she would have sex with him, he’d help her ex-husband in his legal case. Allegedly, the woman refused, but the judge then asked her for photos of her in “nice lingerie.” Again, she said she refused.

It was then that the woman made a 28-minute tape of their conversation and sent it to the police. The retired judge hung up his gavel in August 2022 after successfully running for city attorney of Clarendon, Arkansas.

These new charges follow the judge’s prior run-ins with authorities. In 2018, Carruth was criticized by the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission for meeting with people in-person and alone, outside the courtroom.

The new indictment is reminiscent of his 2018 admonishment from the Commission, with new charges that now allege Carruth had “solicited sexual favors from women appearing before him as a judge.”

The new indictment states that Carruth met with the woman whose ex-husband's case was in his court. She said that Carruth asked her, in reply to her question if he could help in the no-contact-order violation, “what she had of equal or greater value to the risk he would be taking by helping her.”

After the woman offered to “confess” possible crimes of her own, the then-judge told her to write it down, allegedly. Then, on April 18, she surreptitiously recorded their conversation. Carruth accepted her list of alleged crimes and on tape, said he’d write them in an affidavit that she would notarize and return to him. Then, he said on the tape, he’d hide it in his home safe.

The tape includes Carruth telling the woman he could help her by scheduling an earlier appearance in court for her ex-husband and dismissing the case prior to his hearing with the parole board. However, it is alleged Carruth then said he wasn’t totally committed to helping her, and wanted to know what she’d do for him.

Allegedly he said, “How do you feel about sex?”

After the woman said no, he asked her, “Do you have any nice lingerie? (and) Do you mind letting me see you in it?”

About a week later, the woman said no to his request. Afterward, the woman told Carruth she had a 28-minute tape of their conversation. She then shared the tape with authorities the next day.

Carruth was then called to meet with the FBI and the Arkansas State Police, where he allegedly lied about offering his judicial favors for sex.

The prosecutor’s case will lean heavily on the secretly made tapes. Expect Carruth’s attorneys to try to get the tapes ruled inadmissible. Allowing tapes to be used in US cases is still contested in a majority of legal cases. In D.C., the presiding judge can decide not to allow the tapes as evidence.

In the District of Columbia, under Code § 23-542, it is illegal to record a conversation unless one party agrees to the taping. This means the woman who taped the conversations with Carruth would not need his consent to legally tape him, although it would be illegal for a third party to record the conversation without the consent of at least one participant.

If convicted, Carruth could serve up to 20 years in prison.