Contractor sentenced to prison for bribery

SAN DIEGO, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- A California defense contractor has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for bribing a Republican congressman to win lucrative government contracts.

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns could have given Brent Wilkes of ADCS Inc. a much longer sentence for his conviction last November on 13 felony charges, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Wilkes was convicted of providing former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham with money, prostitutes and other bribes in exchange for securing $90 million in Pentagon work for his document scanning company.

Prosecutors portrayed Wilkes as a "war profiteer" and "overgrown frat boy" in court papers filed in advance of Tuesday's sentencing in San Diego.

"There can be little doubt that Wilkes was the spider and Cunningham the fly, in this web of corruption," said prosecutors.

Wilkes was accused of showering Cunningham with more than $700,000 in perks including $500,000 for a mortgage, $100,000 for a yacht and the services of two prostitutes during a stay at a Hawaiian resort.