EMBED More News Videos Lee Baca, former sheriff of L.A. County, was sentenced on Friday, May 12, 2017, two months after he was found guilty of obstructing justice, conspiring to obstruct justice and lying to federal authorities. 
 
 Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca has been sentenced to three years in prison for obstructing an FBI investigation into abuses at the jails he ran.Baca, 74, was sentenced on Friday, two months after he was found guilty of obstructing justice, conspiring to obstruct justice and lying to federal authorities.As he walked into the courthouse, Baca remarked that the sentencing date was inevitable and that he has a "zen personality, so that's probably a whole thing right there." The former sheriff displayed no emotion as Judge Percy Anderson scathingly rebuked him before handing down the sentence.Anderson described Baca's crimes as "a series of serious offenses -- conscious, volitional," adding that Baca knew what he was doing was wrong. The judge said Baca's "fall from such heights is tragic.""His criminal conduct is so at odds with his public image -- core values, fairness, courage to stand up against bigotry," Anderson said.Baca's 36-month sentence is one year more than the prosecution had asked for.The judge said that, if not for Baca's Alzheimer's disease, which is progressively becoming worse, he would have given the sheriff five years in prison -- as much time as Paul Tanaka, the former L.A. County undersheriff received for his role in the corruption scandal.Prosecutors said Tanaka was the leader and mastermind of the obstruction. Anderson said Tanaka was no rogue deputy and that Baca knew precisely what type of person Tanaka was when he promoted him to undersheriff."It was an honor to serve the county of Los Angeles for over 48 years," the ex-sheriff told reporters after the sentencing hearing, "and there are things about that process that I thought were important. Core values do count. There's a lot of folks that don't necessarily think that core values matter, but I'm one that does."At a separate news conference, Sandra Brown, acting U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, said the "punishment follows a trial where a jury found him guilty of leading a conspiracy, obstructing a federal civil-rights investigation into the jails, and lying to federal officers.""The evidence gathered by the FBI, and presented by the prosecutors, shows the former sheriff committed crimes and broke the law," Brown added.The FBI was looking into possible wrongdoing within the jail system -- specifically inmate abuse inside the Men's Central Jail.Baca abruptly resigned in 2014 as the probe netted several underlings who plotted to hide an inmate informant from his FBI handler when they learned the jails were being investigated.The crimes tarnished Baca's reputation as a man on a mission to promote education and rehabilitation behind bars and who preached tolerance and understanding between people of different cultures and faiths.The judge said Friday's sentence will send a message of deterrence -- that no person, no matter how powerful, is above the law.Baca's date of surrender is scheduled for July 25, though it is unclear if that may change.Baca has vowed to appeal his conviction -- no matter his sentence. Other deputy defendants in the scandal were allowed to remain out of custody pending their appeals. 

 The audacious move was part of an investigation opened the year before into the Men's Central Jail, the main facility in the county's enormous detention system. For years, the Sheriff's Department had been dogged by reports of a place run amok, in which deputies routinely beat inmates without provocation and covered up the abuse, often with the knowledge of supervisors. Other corruption, including deputies who took bribes to bring contraband in to inmates, was said to be rampant as well. 

 Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, center, with his wife, Carol, walk with attorneys, David Hochman, left, and Nathan Hochman, right, while surrounded by members of the media outside federal... (Associated Press) 
 
 Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, center, with his wife, Carol, walk with attorneys, David Hochman, left, and Nathan Hochman, right, while surrounded by members of the media outside federal court in Los Angeles Friday, May, 12, 2017. Baca was sentenced Friday to three years in prison for obstructing... (Associated Press) 
 
 LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal judge repeatedly rebuked former Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca for bringing shame on his department as he sentenced him Friday to three years in prison for obstructing an FBI investigation into abuses at the jails he ran. 
 
 In exceeding the two-year sentence prosecutors recommended, U.S. District Court Judge Percy Anderson said Baca's fall was tragic, but it was his own doing and that his role atop a corrupt department where deputies brutalized inmates had ruined lives and done lasting damage. 
 
 "Your actions are an embarrassment to the thousands of men and women who put their lives on the line every day," Anderson told the longtime lawman. "Blind obedience to a corrupt culture has serious consequences." 
 
 Baca was the final and most prominent defendant in a case that blossomed from a civil rights investigation of beatings by guards in the nation's largest jail system into a broader corruption scandal that led to the top of the department. In addition to Baca and his top lieutenant, 19 others were convicted of crimes ranging from assaults to obstructing justice. 
 
 Anderson said he would have sentenced Baca to five years in prison except for his nearly half-century of public service and because he's in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. The judge, however, took exception to a defense contention that Alzheimer's is a sentence of its own. 
 
 "As awful as Alzheimer's disease is, it's not a criminal penalty," said Anderson, who said the suggestion was an insult to millions of others suffering from the condition who have not committed federal crimes. "Alzheimer's disease is not a get-out-of-jail card." 
 
 The sentence was a blow to the 74-year-old, who had been seeking probation and home confinement. 
 
 Baca, dressed in a light blue suit, delivered a scattered address from hand-written notes outside the courthouse after the sentencing in which he thanked the people of Los Angeles, his lawyers and his wife standing by his side, who he couldn't immediately locate. 
 
 He declined to comment on the sentence, but as he waited to cross a street, he said he was a man of faith who believed life was precious. 
 
 "I love life no matter where I am," Baca said. 
 
 He was ordered to surrender to federal prison authorities July 25. He was convicted in March of obstructing justice, conspiring to obstruct justice and lying to federal authorities. 
 
 Baca abruptly resigned in 2014 after underlings were charged with plotting to hide an inmate informant from his FBI handler. Deputies had discovered the inmate was a snitch after finding a contraband cellphone the informant was supposed to use to communicate with his handler. 
 
 The crimes tarnished Baca's reputation as a soft-spoken, rail-thin, Zen-like reformer who promoted education and rehabilitation behind bars and preached tolerance and understanding between people of different cultures and faiths. 
 
 Furious about the learning his department was under investigation, he told the local FBI head and top federal prosecutor he was ready to "gun up" for battle with them and stated: "I'm the goddamn sheriff, these are my goddamn jails." 
 
 "Rather than stop the abuses in the jails, he entered into a conspiracy with his subordinates to obstruct a federal civil rights investigation to protect his legacy," acting U.S. Attorney Sandra Brown said. "He made a decision to protect what he called his empire, his jails and then simply to protect himself." 
 
 Defense attorney Nathan Hochman said Baca's misdeeds over six weeks in 2011 and four false answers to 400 questions during a voluntary interview with authorities in 2013 must be weighed against an "extraordinary record of public service" over 48 years and along with his condition, which has progressed from mild cognitive impairment to mild dementia. 
 
 More than 200 friends and supporters wrote letters of support for Baca, including former Mexican President Vicente Fox, former Govs. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gray Davis, former Los Angeles Ram-turned-minister Rosey Grier, former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, Hollywood executives, clergy and former jail inmates. 
 
 "For 48 years, he served the people of Los Angeles with all his might, with all his heart," his attorney, Nathan Hochman, said. 
 
 Baca plans to appeal, challenging several of Anderson's rulings that Hochman said prevented a fair trial, including a decision not to allow medical experts to testify whether Baca's medical condition impaired his memory when he lied to federal authorities.
– A longtime Los Angeles County sheriff was sentenced to three years in federal prison Friday by a judge who accused him of "blind obedience to a corrupt culture," the AP reports. According to KABC, Lee Baca, who served as sheriff for 15 years, was found guilty of obstructing justice for his role in a scheme to hamper an FBI investigation into alleged abuses at Los Angeles County jails. Guards were accused of beating inmates, and during an FBI investigation in 2011, deputies under Baca moved the FBI's prison informant to keep him from agents, told the informant and other deputies not to cooperate with the FBI, and threatened to arrest the lead FBI agent in an effort to intimidate her, the Los Angeles Times reports. The three-year sentence for Baca, who's 74 years old and suffering the early stages of Alzheimer's, is one more than prosecutors requested and a far cry from an attempted plea deal of fewer than six months. Judge Percy Anderson was critical of Baca for not taking responsibility for his role in the obstruction plot, saying he would have sentenced Baca to five years in prison if not for his Alzheimer's. “Your actions embarrass the thousands of men and women who put their lives on the line every day,” Anderson told Baca during sentencing. After sentencing, Baca said it "was an honor" to serve Los Angeles County for more than 48 years. It's unclear where Baca will serve his sentence, which starts in July. He was the 21st person convicted in relation to the jail misconduct and ensuing obstruction.