LOS ANGELES — The former second-in-command of the nation’s largest sheriff’s department was sentenced Monday to five years in prison in a federal corruption investigation that also brought down his boss and 19 other members of the department.

The former Los Angeles County undersheriff, Paul Tanaka, was sentenced in federal court in Los Angeles. He was convicted in April of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice.

His attorney appealed the sentence just a couple of hours after it was handed down by Judge Percy Anderson, who blasted Tanaka for his arrogance and ‘‘gross abuse of public trust.’’

Tanaka was the ringleader of the department’s efforts to hide a jail inmate after deputies discovered he was an FBI informant, prosecutors said. Tanaka played a key role in sending sergeants to intimidate an FBI agent in the case and threaten to have her arrested, they said.

In recommending that Tanaka get five years in prison, they said in court filings that he was ‘‘the most culpable’’ of everyone in the department.

Associated Press