Convicted congressman transferred to San Diego jail; has helped prosecutors in bribe case

Former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who is serving more than eight years in prison for accepting bribes, has been transferred to a downtown jail, but his attorney and federal prosecutors won't say why.

Cunningham has been cooperating with federal prosecutors as they prepare for the September trial of Brent Wilkes, a defense contractor charged with bribing the congressman in exchange for contracts.

Wilkes has pleaded not guilty to more than 30 counts of bribery, fraud, money laundering and conspiracy.

Cunningham, 66, is listed as an inmate at the Metropolitan Correctional Center across the street from the courthouse where he was sentenced in March 2006. He has been serving time at a medical facility in North Carolina and at a low-security work camp near Tucson, Ariz.

An attorney for Cunningham, K. Lee Blalack III, said he did not know how long the former lawmaker would remain in San Diego, declining to comment further.

Prosecutors declined to comment on Cunningham's transfer, and an attorney for Wilkes did not immediately respond to a phone message.

FBI records filed last week with a federal appeals court show that Cunningham gave interviews last February with federal investigators and prosecutors at the Tucson prison, shortly before indictments were returned against Wilkes and another suspected co-conspirator, John Michael.

The eight-term former Republican congressman from San Diego catalogued fancy trips, dinners and sports events he attended with Wilkes, much of which had been documented in court records.