PHILADELPHIA — A loyal aide to former Pennsylvania Sen. Vincent Fumo was sentenced Wednesday to 30 months in a federal prison for systematically destroying e-mail evidence while the FBI investigated his boss for corruption.

Computer technician Leonard Luchko, 52, said he sat down on a curb and cried that day in January when he realized his beloved boss was "a crook." The epiphany came months into Fumo's trial, and long after Luchko's own guilty plea.

"It clicked," Luchko said during his sentencing. "Senator Fumo, the man I idolized for being the champion of the little guy, he'd been lying to me the whole time. He was just a common thief. ... I was a criminal, and the last 10 years of my life was a lie."

Fumo, the powerful Democratic powerbroker from Philadelphia, faces more than 10 years in prison after his March conviction on 137 counts in the $3.5 million corruption case. Luchko was expected to be a key government witness, but prosecutors scratched his appearance at the last minute after learning he was still in contact with Fumo.

Fumo's sentencing is set for July 14.