A former U.S. Air Force staff sergeant pleaded guilty Tuesday in a Sacramento federal court to accepting bribes from a contractor while serving in Afghanistan, prosecutors said.

David A. Turcios, 41, of San Jose, was charged in a July 2017 indictment with two counts of seeking and receiving $8,500 in bribes from two Afghan contractors who sought deals with the government for their companies, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

He pleaded guilty to the second count of the indictment before U.S. District Court Judge John A. Mendez of the Eastern District of California in Sacramento. Turcios is the eighth defendant to plead guilty in this case, the DOJ said.

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The bribery occurred while Turcios was working at the Humanitarian Aid Yard at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan where he was the yard supervisor. His duties included issuing contracts to various companies who would then be responsible for restocking supplies at the yard under the Commander’s Emergency Response Program, according to the DOJ.

As the yard supervisor from November 2010 until November 2011, Turcios helped award nine contracts to Afghan vendors with a value of over $2 million, the DOJ said.

In September 2011, he admitted to allowing an Afghan vendor to recommend three companies for remaining replenishment contracts, the DOJ said. At the time, Turcios’ deployment was coming to an end and he only had time to give two of the contracts to people associated with the vendor. In return, Turcios was promised $3,500 from the vendor for the HA Yard replenishment contracts, prosecutors said.

After returning to the U.S., Turcios continued sending emails urging officials from the U.S. Army to approve payments to the vendor in return for their involvement in the yard contracts. Turcios also obtained a voucher from the U.S. Army authorizing payment to the vendor.

In February 2013, the vendor wired $500 of the promised $3,500 to the bank account of Turcios’ wife, the DOJ said.

Turcios will be sentenced by Judge Mendez on Aug. 28 in Sacramento.

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani