A former defense contractor with ties to U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha entered a plea of guilty in a Florida courtroom yesterday to accepting $200,000 in kickbacks from a Pennsylvania subcontractor in a case that reaches from Pensacola beaches to Somerset County's hills.

Richard Ianieri, former CEO of Coherent Systems International, is now expected to cooperate in a wider case involving a former Air Force contract supervisor accused of hiding his financial ties to a Florida engineering firm that did millions of dollars in defense work. He entered guilty pleas to two separate criminal complaints: charges filed in Pittsburgh for accepting kickbacks, and a longer list of accusations in Florida that he defrauded the Air Force in a $6 million contract.

While prosecutors did not outline full details of the agreement, what they described as kickbacks matched two consulting agreements Mr. Ianieri had with Kuchera Industries, a defense contractor based in Windber, Somerset County, just outside Johnstown. Kuchera has received millions in defense spending earmarks sponsored by Mr. Murtha.

In January, agents from the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, FBI and IRS raided the Kuchera plants in Windber as well as the homes of Ronald and William Kuchera, brothers who own the company. The raid was part of a probe into allegations of overbilling and fraud on defense contracts, and the Navy earlier this year suspended the Kucheras from further defense contracts.

Among defense outlays being scrutinized by prosecutors was an $8 million earmark written into a 2005 bill for tsunami relief. The Air Force had not requested the earmark, and Mr. Murtha's spokesman yesterday said the congressman had no recollection of how the earmark was placed in the tsunami bill.

As the chairman of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, Mr. Murtha wields broad powers to allocate billions of defense dollars.

Matthew Mazonkey, spokesman for Mr. Murtha, yesterday said the congressman had no control over the contractors.

"This case isn't about earmarks, it's about individuals within the defense industry and the Defense Department accused of defrauding the government," Mr. Mazonkey said. "If they broke the law then they should be held accountable for their actions."