Former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona surrendered Tuesday morning to begin serving a 5-1/2-year prison sentence for witness tampering.

Carona was taken into custody at 9:30 a.m. at the minimum-security Englewood federal prison in Littleton, Colo., authorities said.

Carona presided over California's second-largest sheriff's department for nine years before he was indicted on felony corruption charges in 2007.

During a two-month trial in 2009, prosecutors alleged that Carona accepted secret cash payments, had numerous illicit sexual affairs and provided campaign contributors with badges and concealed-weapons licenses.

He was acquitted on five of six charges, including conspiracy. But the jury found him guilty of urging then-Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl to lie to a grand jury investigating his administration.

Carona appealed his conviction and had been free on bail pending the outcome.