MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - A federal judge in Memphis sentenced Ford to five-and-half-years in prison and two years of supervised release.
A jury convicted Ford in April for taking $55,000 in bribes from FBI agents who posed as dishonest businessmen.
The agents represented a fake a company called E-Cycle Management, which pretended to want a change in state law for a business advantage.
Ford was one of 11 defendants charged in the Tennessee Waltz public corruption probe.
A jury also convicted former state Sen. Roscoe Dixon, also of Memphis and the only other Tennessee lawmaker to serve a five-year prison sentence.
Former state Rep. Chris Newton of Cleveland pled guilty early on and was freed after spending nine months in prison.
Former Sens. Ward Crutchfield of Chattanooga and Kathryn Bowers of Memphis pled guilty last month and will be sentenced later.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
