Former officer admits corruption
By Guillermo Contreras - Express-NewsA former Army officer pleaded guilty Monday to his part in a large graft scheme organized by ex-Maj. John Cockerham of San Antonio, who exploited poor military oversight on contracts during the war in Iraq.
Retired Maj. Derrick L. Shoemake, 49, of Moreno Valley, Calif., pleaded guilty in a federal court in Los Angeles to two bribery charges, finalizing a plea deal he signed in February and admitting he accepted $250,000 to help fix contracts to supply bottled water.
From October 2004 through August 2006, he served at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, a U.S. military post and contracting hub for troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Part of Shoemake's tour in Kuwait overlapped with that of Cockerham, a contracting officer who was deployed to Kuwait from Fort Sam Houston.
