The former mayor of Charlotte, the largest city in North Carolina, was sentenced to nearly four years in prison on public corruption charges on Tuesday.

Back in June, Patrick Cannon confessed to accepting at least $50,000 in bribes during part of his tenure as a city councilman and as the mayor of Charlotte.

As a result, the 47-year-old Democrat was handed a 44 month sentence in federal prison Tuesday morning. He was also ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.

"I'm sorry," Cannon said during his sentencing hearing, reports Reuters. "I let a lot of people down."

At the age of 26, Cannon was elected as the youngest council member in Charlotte history in 1993. He then went on to become mayor last November. He announced his resignation in March after he was exposed and arrested for public corruption charges, following a nearly four-year investigation.

"You have seriously tarnished the city's image," said U.S. District Judge Frank Whitney as he pronounced the sentence in a courtroom, according to WRAL.com.

"I have failed as a father, I have failed as a husband, I failed as a servant leader, and I failed as a citizen," Cannon told the judge before he was sentenced.

According to U.S. prosecutors, Cannon accepted bribes from a strip club owner and undercover federal agents who posed as investors in exchange for helping them get around city government and zoning laws.

In addition to the cash, prosecutors say he also accepted a trip Las Vegas and use of a luxury apartment from the two undercover agents.

Cannon could have spent up to 20 years in prison and a hefty $250,000 fine for his charge of honest services wire fraud.

"He knows he did wrong and he's very remorseful," Cannon's godmother Mildred Campbell told a NBC Charlotte reporter Tuesday.