COLUMBIA - Saying he was sorry for his "error in judgment," S.C. Commissioner of Agriculture Charles Sharpe pleaded guilty Thursday to accepting a $10,000 bribe from cockfighters operating illegally in the state and to lying about his actions to FBI agents.

U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie told Sharpe, "I could give you up to 20 years."

However, if she follows federal court sentencing guidelines, which the U.S. Supreme Court recently made advisory, Sharpe, 66, will go to prison for two to 2 1/2 years. He will remain free on bond until his sentencing, which will be in several months.

He signed a plea bargain this week with federal prosecutors. In exchange for pleading guilty to one count of violating the Hobbes Act, which prohibits public officials from using their office to extort bribes, and one count of making false statements to federal law enforcement officials, 10 charges against him were dropped.

Those included a second count of extortion involving an additional $10,000 payment, two counts of making false statements and seven counts of money laundering.

He is the first S.C. statewide-elected official in more than 100 years to be charged with a serious crime.

Former N.C. Agriculture Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps is serving a four-year federal prison sentence for being ringleader of a scheme to extort political contributions from carnival vendors in exchange for state business.

Sharpe, an Aiken County Republican and former lawmaker, was elected to the $92,000-a-year agriculture commissioner's post in 2002. He has been suspended without pay since his indictment in August. Gov. Mark Sanford's press secretary, Will Folks, said Thursday that the governor's office this week received a resignation letter from Sharpe.

Cockfighting is illegal in South Carolina and everywhere else in the U.S. except Louisiana and parts of New Mexico. But a group had begun in early 2001 regularly holding tournaments in Aiken County to which hundreds of spectators from several states came to watch roosters fitted with razor-sharp steel blades battle one another to the death.

In 2002, while Sharpe was chairman of the S.C. House committee on agriculture and a candidate for agriculture commissioner, the cockfight group sought his help in discouraging law enforcement from raiding their fights.

Sharpe then brought a senior sheriff's deputy to the cockfighting facility and tried to convince him the fights were legal under S.C. law. Among other things, Sharpe claimed he had a legal opinion from the S.C. attorney general's office. The deputy secretly recorded the conversation..

In December 2002, a month after Sharpe's election, he agreed to help legitimize the cockfighting operation, either by enacting regulations or by lobbying the legislature to change the law. In exchange, he asked for money to help retire his campaign debt.

The cockfighters gave him a $10,000 cashier's check, which he deposited in a personal account and did not report on his campaign disclosure.

Later, when FBI agents questioned him, Sharpe denied having said that he had an attorney general's opinion that cockfighting was legal. No such opinion exists. Sharpe also denied to the FBI that he had asked the cockfight operators for money.

At Thursday's hearing, Currie asked Sharpe if he disputed any of Moore's summary. Sharpe's lawyer, James Griffin of Columbia, handed the judge a written statement.

After reading the statement, Currie said, "My understanding is that you are prepared to admit that ... you did agree to accept money, and that you were acting to obtain that money as a state official. You understand that they were seeking your agreement to take some official action to assist them."

Sharpe answered yes, then said, "I want to say to you and to the people of South Carolina that I am truly sorry for my error in judgment and ask for forgiveness."