Tennessee ? Former state Sen. John Ford, a prominent member of a politically powerful family, was convicted Friday of accepting $55,000 in bribes during a statewide corruption investigation.

But the federal jury deadlocked on the more serious charge of extortion, creating a mistrial on that count. Ford was acquitted of three counts of witness intimidation.

Ford, 64, left the courtroom surrounded by relatives and refused to comment. His lawyer said he would appeal.

The sting, code-named Tennessee Waltz, resulted in the arrest of five sitting or former lawmakers and several local government officials. The prosecution’s case depended heavily on a video giving jurors an up-close look at Ford stuffing his pockets with $100 bills counted one by one by an undercover FBI agent.

Ford’s defense contended he thought he was being paid as a business consultant for a computer recycling company called E-Cycle Management. But the company was a fake, created for an FBI investigation of corruption among state officials.