Mattapoisett resident Daniel Spooner, who pled guilty to charges of extortion in December, was sentenced to two years in prison on April 26.

Spooner pled guilty to trying to extort $10,000 from the owner of a Southcoast vending machine business in U.S. District Court in Boston on December 16.

In addition to his two-year sentence, U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris sentenced Spooner to two years of supervised release, and a mental health evaluation.

Spooner, 53, claimed to be a “strong arm” for an unidentified “made member” of the La Cosa Nostra mafia in Providence, according to court documents. The business owner was told that the $10,000 was for a “protection payment,” and that if he did not pay this money, he and his family would be harmed.

Spooner made threats in person and in a series of phone calls. The business owner paid Spooner $1,000 on August 1. Spooner was arrested a few days later on August 5.

The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Providence office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael L. Tabak of the FBI’s Organized Crime Strike Force Unit is prosecuting the case.

At the sentencing, federal prosecution said that Spooner was not connected to the La Cosa Nostra and acted on his own, according to court documents.