Former Tallahassee power broker Dr. Alan Mendelsohn can delay no more and must go directly to prison by noon Friday, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

Mendelsohn, a former Broward political fundraiser and lobbyist, had already received a seven-month delay before starting to serve his four-year prison term, U.S. District Judge William Zloch wrote in an order.

The Hollywood eye doctor pleaded guilty to conspiracy in December 2010. He admitted to tax evasion, wire fraud and making false statements to federal agents.

Mendelsohn, a Republican, confessed that he participated in Florida’s so-called pay-to-play political culture, and said he funneled money to former state Sen. Mandy Dawson through one of the then-elected official’s close friends.

Dawson, a Democrat who represented a district that stretched from Fort Lauderdale to Palm Beach Gardens, has since been charged with tax evasion. She is fighting the charges.

In response to Mendelsohn’s request to remain free on an appeals bond, Zloch spelled out — again — how seriously he viewed Mendelsohn’s criminal misconduct.

“Mendelsohn participated in a scheme that struck at the heart of the integrity of the Florida State legislature. . . .” Zloch wrote. “Indeed, it is hard to fathom corruption more damaging to a democratic society than that which corrupts the people’s elected representatives.”

While Mendelsohn, 53, was sentenced to more than the recommended guideline sentence, he received less than the maximum penalty of five years, the judge noted.

Mendelsohn is appealing his sentence to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, which is likely to take at least several months.

At his sentencing hearing in June, Mendelsohn had asked for time to help care for his daughter, Rebecca, 19, who must undergo a kidney transplant with her sister as donor. The operation has not yet been scheduled.

Though Mendelsohn again suggested in his appeal that his imprisonment would place a particularly onerous burden on his family because of his daughter’s medical condition, Zloch wrote that this was not an appropriate matter for him to consider.

While the judge said he was sympathetic to Mendelsohn’s family, he said almost all prisoners must cope with family hardships.

“The Court finds it bitterly disingenuous for [him] to assert that his daughter’s medical condition, though not a sufficient reason to deter him from active corruption with a public official, siphoning money from political action groups for his own benefit, or lying to federal agents, now constitutes a reason for the Court to allow him to remain on bond pending appeal,” Zloch wrote.

Mendelsohn’s lawyer, Alvin Entin, said his client would comply with the judge’s order but continue the appeal to the higher court.

Prison officials have informed Mendelsohn that he should turn himself in at the minimum-security federal prison camp in Estill, S.C., about 50 miles north of Savannah, Ga., by noon Friday, Entin said.

The check-in process includes a strip search and a brief medical and psychological evaluation. Most inmates in federal camps sleep in a bunk in a cubicle, not unlike a college dormitory.

Inmates are expected to rise early and work up to seven or eight hours a day for 12 cents to $1.15 per hour, according to the Bureau of Prisons. Common jobs include cleaning, landscaping and teaching. Visits and telephone calls are permitted with a list of pre-approved people.

Mendelsohn said he paid $82,000 to Dawson, siphoned $330,000 from political action committees that he controlled, and failed to report more than $600,000 in taxable income.

Federal prosecutors said the money paid for private school fees for his children, credit card bills, a home theater system and a house purchase and payments for his mistress.

At the peak of his fundraising efforts, Mendelsohn sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to political campaigns, mostly to Republicans. He served on then-Gov. Charlie Crist’s gubernatorial transition team in 2006 and he was the chief fundraiser for the Florida Medical Association’s political action committee.

While Zloch had allowed Mendelsohn to delay reporting to prison, in part because of his daughter’s expected surgery, some federal judges insist that convicted defendants begin serving their punishments immediately after the sentencing hearing. Others allow so-called self-surrender for people who are not a flight risk or a danger to the community.