Former Campbell aide pleads guilty to corruption charges

ATLANTA - The chief operating officer under former Mayor Bill Campbell has pleaded guilty to federal corruption and tax violation charges. <br> <br> Larry Wallace, a childhood friend of Campbell, had been scheduled to go to trial on Monday for allegedly accepting $56,000 in illegal cash payments from a company seeking city business. <br> <br> The 53-year-old Wallace told investigators he used the money to pay for trips to Lake Tahoe and Florida, to keep his home in Virginia and to pay his mother&#39;s hospital bills. <br> <br> In exchange for the money, Wallace used his office to work on behalf of telecommunications company Spectronics Incorporated. <br> <br> Wallace pleaded guilty Thursday to nine counts, including conspiracy to accept corrupt payments and failure to file tax returns. <br> <br> His plea is the ninth guilty plea or conviction in the three-year investigation into allegations of corruption in the Fulton County and Atlanta governments.