A former maintenance worker at a public housing complex in Roxbury was sentenced to two years in prison on Wednesday for helping applicants jump places on a waiting list for coveted housing, in exchange for bribes.

“You were essentially taking advantage of their desperation to get into public housing,’’ US District Judge Patti B. Saris said, admonishing Ismael Morales, 36, and calling his actions at the Roxse Homes complex “an extremely serious crime.’’

Morales, draped in prison garb, apologized to the judge. His sister and a daughter watched from the courtroom gallery.

“I’m sorry for the crime I did, and I accept full responsibility. I let my family down,’’ said Morales, who voluntarily went to prison in May, after pleading guilty, in anticipation of his sentence so that he could begin serving it sooner.

His lawyer, Rudolph Miller, had asked that he be sentenced to a year in prison because he accepted responsibility. Assistant US Attorney Kristina Barclay asked for the two year-sentence; Morales had faced 2½ years under sentencing guidelines.

After his release from prison, he must also serve two years of supervised release, and must pay a $2,000 fine.

Morales had pleaded guilty to charges that he conspired with another man, Mathis Lemons, an assistant property manager at the Roxse Homes, to solicit and then accept bribes from applicants for housing at the competitive subsidized complex on Tremont Street. The complex was managed by Cornerstone Corp., which employed both men.

According to court records, the complex had actually closed off its waiting list because of the high interest.

But Lemons, 42, of Brockton, would recruit interested people who were not on the list, and Lemons would alter computer records to help them jump to the top.

Some of the new applications were dated to make it appear as if they were 10 years old, and in some cases tenants waited only a month for an apartment.

Lemons and Morales collected more than $18,000 in bribes, Barclay said.

“The defendant took advantage of this high demand, and people wanting to have a better life for themselves, for their family, in order to enrich himself,’’ Barclay said.

Lemons also pleaded guilty and is slated to be sentenced in September.

Valencia can be reached at MValencia@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @MiltonValencia.