Former LA County Undersheriff Paul Tanaka was sentenced to five years in prison on Monday, June 27 for obstructing an FBI investigation into LA deputies’ abuses of jail inmates. In April of this year, Tanaka was found guilty of taking several measures to lead the FBI in the wrong direction when it was conducting an investigation into conduct at LA County jails. Under Tanaka’s orders, his subordinates intimidated the lead FBI agent and hid the whereabouts of a jail inmate, Anthony Brown, who was working as a federal informant.Â
Tanaka stood before U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson and was severely criticized for his actions, according to The LA Times. Anderson stated, “Your ambition and arrogance have been on display,” and added that Tanaka’s testimony at his previous trial was “evasive, combative and not credible.”Â
Tanaka was found guilty in April after half a decade’s worth of federal investigations into corruption in the LA County Sheriff’s Department.Â
“Not only did he fail to identify and address problems in the jails, he exacerbated them,” Anderson said following the sentencing, according to The LA Times.