Former Pierce County probation officer sentenced for sexual misconduct with client
A former Pierce County probation officer who admitted to having a sexual relationship with a client assigned to him was sentenced Friday to a year in jail.
Mario Joseph Tropiano, 40, pleaded guilty Nov. 8 in Pierce County Superior Court to second-degree custodial sexual misconduct for having sex with a client between 2022 and 2023 while he had the ability to influence the terms of her probation.
Judge Timothy Ashcraft handed down the punishment, which was at the high end of the standard sentencing range, according to court records. Tropiano had no prior criminal convictions, and he has remained out of custody for the duration of the case.
Tropiano will have to register as a sex offender, and he was ordered to have no contact with the victim for five years.
An investigation began in October 2023 after an attorney for the victim, a 41-year-old woman, informed the court that his client had an intimate relationship with her former probation officer, Tropiano, and it was causing her to have adverse emotions about meeting with her current officer.
At the time, Tropiano was working a probation-officer assignment in Des Moines. He was placed on administrative leave after the city manager was informed of the sexual misconduct allegations.
He was assigned to the victim’s case through Pierce County District Court in July 2022 for a misdemeanor and was her probation officer until August 2023 when he moved to Montana because his father was ill, according to court records.
Evidence showed that Tropiano and the victim had sexual contact through text messages, at her home, in hotels and occasionally at his office.
Tropiano allegedly told the victim he would write to a judge to help her get off probation, and he wanted her to complete probation so could date her without consequence. He also allegedly gave the woman $1,500 for rent after she lost a large amount of money gambling.
In a statement to Tacoma Police Department officers, the woman said she felt Tropiano was a predator who used information he learned about her while he was her probation officer to take advantage of her. She said she felt if she didn’t comply with Tropiano, she believed he would make the conditions of her probation worse or have her put in jail.
