A former Iowa state senator who claimed he was being investigated due his opposition to gay marriage has pleaded guilty to taking tens of thousands of dollars to work on the 2012 presidential campaign of former Texas Representative Ron Paul.

Kent Sorenson has pled guilty to one count of obstruction of justice and one count of causing a presidential campaign to falsely report its expenditures to the Federal Election Commission, according to Radio Iowa.

In the fall of 2011, Sorenson, the chairman of Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann's campaign for the Iowa Caucuses, switched allegiances to the Paul campaign.

Sorenson has admitted that he jumped ship in exchange for money. Prosecutors claim he was paid $73,000 to work on Paul's campaign.

According to an Iowa Senate Ethics Committee report released in October, Bachmann's campaign also paid Sorenson to work on her presidential bid, a violation of Senate rules. Sorenson resigned from the state Senate soon after release of the report.

In an email to supporters sent in October, Sorenson accused his attackers of coordinating a “witch hunt” motivated by his public opposition to marriage equality and support for passage of a constitutional amendment aimed at reversing the Iowa Supreme Court's decision that struck down Iowa's restrictive marriage laws.