OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) A former Oklahoma zookeeper and one-time candidate for governor was sentenced Wednesday to 22 years in prison for his role in a murder-for-hire plot and violating federal wildlife laws.

A federal judge in Oklahoma City sentenced 56-year-old Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage who is also known as Joe Exotic for trying to arrange the killing of a Florida animal sanctuary founder who criticized his treatment of animals. The woman, Carole Baskin, wasnt harmed.

Maldonado-Passage, who maintained his innocence, also was sentenced for killing five tigers, selling tiger cubs and falsifying wildlife records. A jury convicted him last April.

I still maintain my innocence and looking forward in the upcoming days to my attorneys filing my appeal and moving onto the next step in this nightmare, he said in a statement posted to his Facebook page.

Maldonado-Passages attorneys had argued for lenience, noting he had no previous criminal convictions and that because of his poor health, a sentence within the advisory guidelines would amount to a life sentence. Prosecutors were satisfied with the sentence.

We are thankful for the Courts thoughtful consideration of the gravity of this murder-for-hire scheme, as well as the defendants egregious wildlife crimes in imposing a 22-year sentence, U.S. Attorney Tim Downing said in a statement.

During last years trial, a jury heard evidence that Maldonado-Passage paid a man $3,000 to travel to Florida and kill Baskin, with a promise to pay more after she was dead. Maldonado-Passage was upset that Baskin, an outspoken critic of his, had won a million-dollar civil judgment against him.

After his initial attempt failed, prosecutors say Maldonado-Passage offered $10,000 to an undercover FBI agent to kill Baskin during a meeting that was recorded and played for the jury. In the recording, he told the agent, Just like follow her into a mall parking lot and just cap her and drive off.

Known for his blonde mullet and expletive-laden rants on YouTube, Maldonado-Passage appeared on John Olivers Last Week Tonight when he was a 2016 write-in candidate for president. The next year, he announced his candidacy as a Libertarian candidate for Oklahoma governor, ultimately finishing third in a three-way primary. During the campaign, his 23-year-old husband, Travis Moldonado, died after authorities say he accidentally fatally shot himself in the head. Garvin County Sheriff Larry Rhodes said at the time that witnesses reported Moldonado put a loaded firearm to his head and pulled the trigger to prove the weapon would not fire with the magazine removed.