Investigator says he requires more from Cunningham

12 May 2006 // When Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham pleaded guilty in November, he promised to cooperate with the federal authorities investigating his case.

But one federal investigator has gone public with a complaint that he hasn't gotten enough information from Cunningham, mainly because agents haven't been able to get to the Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina to start the interrogation.

“We're just looking for the opportunity, in the future, to come down and debrief him,” said Rick Gwin, special agent in charge of the Western regional office of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, one of three agencies investigating the case.

The other two agencies – the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service – declined to comment on how much cooperation they have gotten from Cunningham.

Gwin said his agency has asked the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego for an opportunity to question the former congressman.

“I think that's under way,” he said.

Gwin also complained that Cunningham hasn't volunteered to help. “We're not getting the full cooperation that I think we should from Mr. Cunningham,” he said.

Cunningham, 64, is undergoing physical and mental screening before being assigned to a facility where he will serve the remainder of his prison term of 8 years, 4 months. That evaluation is nearly complete, his lawyer, K. Lee Blalack, said yesterday.

“His spirits are about as good as one can be under the circumstances,” Blalack said. “He is trying his best to adjust to the regimen and lifestyle of the penal system, trying to humbly accept the responsibility for what he's done and take each day at a time.”

The prison evaluation has taken up much of the disgraced congressman's time. “Maybe that's prevented him” from cooperating, Gwin said.