A former Florida police officer has pleaded guilty to a slew of charges related to the sexual assault of as many as 20 undocumented immigrants.

According to the Florida Sun-Sentinel, 34-year-old Jonathan Bleiweiss, who was previously awarded with the state's "Employee of the Year" award, was sentenced to five years in prison and 10 years probation after pleading guilty to 15 counts of battery, 14 counts of false imprisonment and four counts of stalking involving criminal suspects he came into contact with over the years.

Bleiweiess escaped being directly convicted on any sex charges and will not be legally required to register as a sex offender, even though at the time of his arrest former Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti said, "He was disgraceful and abused his power."

During his six-years as a Broward County Sheriff's deputy, Bleiweiss was revered as a hero within the gay community and was often saluted for his willingness to stand up and speak out against discrimination.

Bleiweiss began to come under the suspicion of authorities in August 2009 after several undocumented immigrant suspects told authorities he had coerced them into engaging in various sex acts with him. Among the claims were he forced them into giving him their phone numbers with threats of deportation and fondled them during routine traffic stops.

After those accusations became public, even more men came forward to claim they too were assaulted by Bleiweiss with as many as 70 accusations being hurled against him by the time he appeared in court to enter his plea earlier this month.

The New York Daily News reported by the time of his sentencing, many of the alleged victims had been scared away from taking the stand against him or even attending the proceedings over fears of deportation. Only one of them actually attended his most recent Feb. 19 court appearance.

All of the incidents reportedly took place from August 2008 through summer 2009.