LOS ANGELES – Former state Sen. Ron Calderon has agreed to plead guilty to one count of mail fraud in a federal corruption case that also involved his brother, Tom Calderon, another former state lawmaker.

U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors will seek a penalty of five years and 10 months against Calderon, the 58-year-old Democrat who represented Montebello in the state Assembly from 2002 to 2006 and in the state Senate from 2006 to 2014.

Attorneys with the DOJ also agreed to dismiss the other 23 counts of public corruption, mail fraud, wire fraud, bribery and money laundering.

However, U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder could sentence Calderon up to 20 years in prison and fine him $250,000, the statutory maximum for the offense.

Mark Geragos, Ron Calderon’s attorney, didn’t return a phone call seeking comment.

Tom Calderon, a former state Assemblyman from Montebello, last week pleaded guilty to one count of money laundering. Federal prosecutors agreed to seek a sentence of no more than a year in his deal.

In the plea agreement, Ron Calderon admitted to accepting bribes from Michael Drobot Sr., former CEO of Pacific Hospital of Long Beach, who hoped to reap millions of dollars in illicit profits from a separate fraud scheme. Ron Calderon also admitted to accepting bribes from undercover FBI agents posing as independent filmmakers who wanted changes to California’s Film Tax Credit program.

Some of those payments were sent by mail.

“Public officials who engage in corrupt behavior threaten the basic fabric of our democracy,” said U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker in a press release. “The Calderons have acknowledged their roles in a bribery scheme in which money for them and their families alone was driving legislation that would have benefited only a few individuals.”

Deirdre Fike, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office said in the same release that his office will not tolerate pay-to-play corruption by public officials and their associates.

“While in office, Ron Calderon and others profited handsomely when bribe money was accepted and laundered, and I’m gratified that he has chosen to take responsibility for his actions,” Fike wrote.

In the plea agreement filed Monday, Ron Calderon admitted participating in a bribery scheme involving two areas of legislation and the hiring of a staffer at the behest of those paying bribes.

Drobot paid Ron Calderon’s son $30,000 over three summers beginning in June 2010 for a part-time job. In return, Calderon agreed to support legislation to delay or limit changes in workers compensation laws relating to the amount of money medical providers are reimbursed for performing spinal surgeries, according to the agreement.

Drobot has since pleaded guilty as part of a massive healthcare fraud scheme that he orchestrated.

Ron Calderon is not implicated in the healthcare fraud scheme, but Drobot was a client of Tom Calderon’s political consulting firm.

In the second part of the bribery scheme, Ron Calderon accepted bribes from people he thought were associated with an independent film studio, but who were in fact undercover FBI agents.

In exchange for the payments — including $3,000 monthly payments to his daughter for services she never provided and trips to Las Vegas worth about $12,000 — Ron Calderon agreed to support an expansion of a state law that gave tax credits to studios that produced independent films in California.

One of the undercover agents also made a $5,000 payment toward his son’s college tuition and a $25,000 payment to Californians for Diversity, a non-profit entity that Ron Calderon and his brother used to pay themselves.

Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, D-Downey, said she’s happy the two Calderons pled guilty, adding that many in her area have forced trials. For example, several city of Bell politicians went to trial and were convicted on corruption charges.

“We’re beginning to remove the dark cloud that’s been over my district and the capitol,” Garcia said. “(But) irrespective of how much time they serve, the burden of wrongdoing will fall to my community and the capitol for generations to come.”

Pico Rivera Councilman Bob Archuleta said he’s glad the case is over.

“It’s behind us for both the families and also the Southeast communities they served and represented,” Archuleta said. “We can close the books and go on.”