Unalaska, AK – A state employee for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has been charged with the receipt of an "unlawful gratuity." Melanie Bakker, 26, allegedly received $100 after conducting a gear inspection of the F/V Northwestern.

According to court documents, Bakker had scheduled the inspection with Sig Hansen, the captain of the Northwestern, for Saturday, January 15. Fish and Game technicians regularly perform this type of gear inspection on weekends, and ADFG offers it as a courtesy. After the inspection occurred, the Deadliest Catch star offered to buy Bakker dinner. Bakker told police that she declined the invitation, but that Hansen then insisted that she take a gift of $100. Bakker did not take the money immediately, but accepted the gift after Hansen persisted. During the time of the inspection, she used a state vehicle and clocked in for one hour of work for the department.

Police received an anonymous tip last Wednesday that an act of corruption occurred, and the State of Alaska formally pressed misdemeanor charges against Bakker on Friday. Because the gratuity was not solicited and because Hansen was not given preferential treatment because of the gift, Bakker is not being charged with the greater crime of bribery, which is a class A felony.

"It's just a lower level -- it's not a bribe," says Sgt. Matt Betzen of the Unalaska Department of Public Safety. "It doesn't meet the qualifications -- or at least we didn't believe that it met the qualifications of bribery as spelled out by Alaska law."

According to the ADFG office in Unalaska, Bakker is no longer with the department. Because the issue is a confidential personnel matter, no further comment was provided.

Original Productions, the production company behind Deadliest Catch, was unaware of Hansen's involvement in the matter as of this morning and would not offer comment.