<a href="http://www.10news.com/news/14369207/detail.html">http://www.10news.com/news/14369207/detail.html</a><br clear="all"><br><h1 class="Headline">Woman Testifies She Was Paid To Have Sex With Cunningham</h1><div class="posted">
POSTED: 9:16 am PDT October 18,
2007</div><div class="updated">UPDATED: 10:05 am PDT October 18,
2007<br><br></div><b class="Dateline">SAN DIEGO -- </b>A
prostitute whom prosecutors say a defense contractor provided to former
Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham testified Wednesday that the congressman
fed her grapes as she sat naked in a hot tub before they headed to a
bedroom at a Hawaiian resort.The woman spoke at the trial of
Brent Wilkes, who is accused bribing Cunningham with $700,000 in cash
and perks in exchange for help securing about $90 million in government
contracts. <br><br>Wilkes has denied the charges.Donna Rosetta said she
was chauffeured to a private villa at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel in
Kamelua, Hawaii, in August 2003 by an escort service she worked for.
Cunningham and Wilkes invited her and a second woman to undress and
slide into a hot tub before Cunningham invited her upstairs, Rosetta
said.<br><br>"They were smoking cigars and talking about some meeting they had earlier," Rosetta said.<br><br>She and Cunningham went to a bedroom, and he tipped her $50 to $80, she said.<br>The
other woman, Tammy McFadden, testified that Wilkes and Cunningham
appeared to be arguing about who would go upstairs with which woman. "The
one I ended up with was the one who was running the show," said
McFadden, referring to Wilkes. <br><br>She described Cunningham as "the
boisterous one" and said he was overbearing. Earlier in the day,
Wilkes' nephew and employee Joel Combs testified that he found the
escort service in the phone book on a $20,000 trip to Hawaii that also
included catered meals and a diving trip captured on a video that was
played for jurors.Combs told jurors his uncle paid thousands of
dollars for golf trips, private jet flights, Super Bowl box seats and
boat navigation systems for Cunningham. <br><br>In return, Combs testified,
Wilkes had virtually unlimited access to the lawmaker."He could
get Duke on the phone anywhere, any time," Combs told Phillip Halpern,
an assistant U.S. attorney. "He treated him really well."<br><br>Combs,
the second person Wilkes hired after launching his own defense
contracting company in 1995, was called as a government witness and
testified under a grant of immunity on the seventh day of Wilkes'
federal trial.Cunningham, a San Diego Republican who held seats
on the powerful House intelligence and defense appropriations
committees, was elected to eight terms before resigning in 2005. <br><br>He
pleaded guilty that year to accepting $2.4 million in bribes from
Wilkes and others and is serving an eight-year prison sentence.Combs
testified Wednesday that his uncle communicated with other prominent
lawmakers, including California Republicans Jerry Lewis and Duncan
Hunter, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, Republican
Whip Roy Blunt, and Sen. Daniel Inouye, a Hawaii Democrat.But
the relationship with Cunningham was at the center of Wilkes' success
in Washington, and Combs said his uncle worked to keep the lawmaker
happy -- efforts that included staking his nephew money to purposely
lose in poker games with the lawmaker.<br><br>Combs recalled dinners at
Washington's fancy Capital Grille restaurant, shooting lessons, and
trips to Florida, Las Vegas and Idaho that Wilkes provided for the
congressman from 1998 until 2002. During that period, Cunningham made
calls to Pentagon officials on Wilkes' behalf and helped secure about
$90 million in federal contracts for Wilkes' company.<br><br>Wilkes also
paid to fly Cunningham and former House Speaker Dennis Hastert from a
golf outing in Palm Springs to San Diego for a reception and then back
to Washington on private jets, Combs testified.Combs told
prosecutors he didn't recall Cunningham ever volunteering to cover his
share of the expenses. But he said on cross-examination by defense
attorney Mark Geragos that he would not have been responsible for
processing any reimbursements and did not know whether company
accountants ever billed the congressman or his campaigns.Cunningham occasionally paid for wine at dinner with Wilkes, Combs said.<br><br>Wilkes avoided looking at his nephew as he spent hours examining documents at the defense table in reading glasses. Wilkes,
53, has pleaded not guilty to 14 counts of conspiracy, bribery, fraud
and money laundering. His lawyer argued in court that Wilkes'
transactions with the lawmaker were legitimate.<br><br><br>-- <br>Gray Tree Crab aka "Big Bertha"