In what some called a defining moment for reform within local law enforcement, Paul Tanaka, the former second-in-command in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, was sentenced Monday to five years in prison.

The sentence came after Tanaka was found guilty in April of conspiracy and obstruction of justice in a jail abuse and corruption scandal.

U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson handed down the sentence in a packed downtown Los Angeles courtroom but not before offering his own searing observations about evidence in the case, which involved a federal probe into allegations of civil rights violations in county jails.

• RELATED PHOTOS: Paul Tanaka goes to Federal Court for Sentencing

The judge called Tanaka, 57, the ringleader of widespread abuse of inmates at the county jail and said he led efforts to cover up bad deputies who abused inmates at the Men’s Central Jail downtown. Based on the evidence, Tanaka threatened those who dared speak out against him, promoted those loyal to him and fabricated documents, Anderson said. Tanaka denied the allegations, but was found guilty of two felony counts of conspiracy and obstructing justice.

“Not only did he fail to identify and correct abuse in the jail, he exacerbated it,” Anderson told courtroom observers Monday, before turning his attention to Tanaka.

”Your ambition and arrogance has been on display the entire time you provided testimony to this court,” Anderson said, adding that Tanaka never showed remorse.

The judge said he gave Tanaka the 60-month sentence to send a warning to those who abuse the public trust and their position of power. Of the nine other Sheriff’s Department officials who have pleaded guilty or have been convicted in the same corruption scandal, Tanaka’s sentence is the longest. All others received sentences of 18 to 41 months.

Tanaka stood stoically beside his attorney for the hourlong proceeding and said nothing. His family and supporters sat behind him.

The sentence was a blow to Tanaka’s defense team, who said calling their client the ringleader was “patently ridiculous,” which is why they had asked the judge to consider giving him probation time instead. After the hearing, Tanaka attorney Dean Stewart said they will appeal the sentence.

“We’re deeply disappointed as we were disappointed with the verdict,” Stewart said, outside the federal courthouse. “We’re confident we’re going to win an appeal.”

• RELATED STORY: Despite conviction, Gardena embraces Mayor Paul Tanaka until the bitter end

Stewart said Tanaka was taking the fall for former Sheriff Lee Baca, who he said was calling the shots during the FBI investigation into county jail abuse.

Baca pleaded guilty in federal court in February to one count of lying to government investigators probing corruption and civil rights abuses by deputies in the county’s jails and an attempt by the Sheriff’s Department to obstruct that investigation. The former sheriff had repeatedly denied his involvement. Prosecutors are seeking a six-month sentence for Baca. Court documents confirmed last week that Baca is suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

Prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office had said Tanaka faced a maximum of 15 years in prison, but recommended 60 months.

“Mr. Tanaka was the ringleader and the driving force behind a plot that concealed an FBI informant, tampered with witnesses and led to the threatened arrest of an FBI agent for doing nothing more than her job,” U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker said Monday.

Laurie Levenson, a criminal law professor at Loyola Marymount University, who was in the courtroom, called Tanaka’s sentence fair and praised the judge.

“I think the judge did a great job,” Levenson said. “I agree with judge Anderson’s sentence.”

American Civil Liberties Union legal director Peter Eliasberg called the sentence significant.

“It’s very unusual for a high-ranking officer to serve time,” Eliasberg said.

Tanaka, who retired from the Sheriff’s Department in 2013, and was re-elected that year to a third, four-year term as mayor of Gardena, was cast out of that office Monday when he was sentenced to prison on the federal corruption convictions.

Tanaka is due to surrender on Aug. 1, but his attorney says he believes he can keep him out of custody throughout the appeal process.