Cunningham pleads guilty to conspiring to take bribes, income tax evasion
By Gregory Alan Gross, Debbi Farr Baker and Karen Kucher
UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM
9:56 a.m. November 28, 2005
SAN DIEGO – Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham pleaded guilty Monday morning to conspiring to take bribes in exchange for using his influence to help a defense contractor get business.
He also pleaded guilty to one count of income tax evasion.
U.S. District Larry A. Burns scheduled Cunninghman's sentencing for Feb. 27.
Cunningham, an eight-term Republican congressman, had been under scrutiny for months for his ties to defense contractors and their officials.
Federal officials launched investigations after The San Diego Union-Tribune and Copley News Service reported in June that a defense contractor who won tens of millions of dollars in Pentagon contracts had taken a $700,000 loss after purchasing Cunningham's Del Mar house.
Cunningham sold the house for $1.675 million in November 2003, but the buyer, defense contractor Mitchell Wade, never moved in and almost immediately put it back on the market. Wade sold it 261 days later for $975,000.
Prosecutors contend the overpayment was a bribe.
The congressman, who sits on the House defense appropriations subcommittee, used the proceeds of the sale to buy a $2.55 million house in Rancho Santa Fe, which he has since put up for sale.
Cunningham, a former Navy Top Gun pilot, was first elected to Congress in 1990. The 63-year-old Republican represents a district that stretches from northern San Diego to Escondido and San Marcos and then along the coast from Carlsbad to Del Mar. He has vowed not to seek reelection and plans to retire next year, at the end of his term.
http://www.sandiegotribune.com/news/politics/cunningham/20051128-0956-bn28duke3.html