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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
SKOKIE, Ill. (CBS) ― Chicago Bears defensive tackle Terry "Tank" Johnson has been sentenced to 120 days in jail and fined $2,500 for violating his probation. He was taken into custody Thursday afternoon and is began serving his sentence immediately.

Johnson, 25, pleaded guilty to the probation violation last month on a 2005 weapons charge. He appeared at the Skokie Courthouse on Thursday afternoon.

From the raid on his suburban home to the shooting death of his best friend, it's been a rough few months for the Bears defensive end.

As 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports, it just got even worse Thursday with a trip to the Cook County Jail.

He is the highest profile inmate there in a decade. Sheriff Tom Dart decided Thursday night that he will be held in protective custody for his own safety. As a result, Johnson is facing as much as 22 hours a day in a locked cell.

CBS 2 followed the white sheriff's bus transporting prisoners from the court house as it pulled into the jail complex. Chopper 2 was overhead as Johnson was taken off first and kept away from other inmates, just as he would be during medical and psychological screening Thursday night and will be during the rest of his stay.

He was escorted, in handcuffs, into the building, where he will spend the next few months.

"I really wanted to cry, I felt bad for him cause he really doesn't belong there," said Pat McGee, one of Johnson's friends. "It's one place where he doesn't belong."

Dressed in a gray suit with recently shorn hair, Johnson arrived at the courtroom with coach Lovie Smith and All-Pro linebacker Brian Urlacher, who testified on Johnson's behalf.

"Tank knows he's in a situation where he can't get into any other trouble," Smith said, adding jail time would be "devastating" for the player's career. "And he's let me know there won't be any more."

"It would be devastating short- and long-term," Smith said. "I've seen a change in Tank. Tank Johnson is a good guy. I know that. I know what he's about."

"I know bad guys. Tank's not a bad guy. He's made some bad decisions," Urlacher said.

In a statement, the Chicago Bears said: "We continue our support of Tank and he will remain a member of our football team. Tank has made many positive changes to better his life. We believe he will continue on this path at the conclusion of his sentence."

Before he was sentenced Johnson pleaded with Moran for a leniency.

"Your honor, I don't believe I'm a man who belongs in jail," he said.

But prosecutor Rick Cenar said jail time was appropriate.

"Just because he's a professional football player and plays for the Chicago Bears, doesn't put him above the law," Cenar said.

Neither smith, who pleaded for another chance for Johnson, nor Urlacher had anything to say after the sentence was handed down, and both sped away without a word.

While in jail Johnson will share a dayroom with others in protective custody. But unlike most jail dayrooms, crowded with inmates on the phone, watching television or taking showers, they will use it one at a time.

Johnson's only other time out of that cell will be when he's taken to Waukegan for his weapons violation court date.

Johnson's attorneys say the sentence will mean 60 days in jail for their client. With time off for good behavior, it will be mid-May before he's released.

They also said they have not yet decided whether to appeal the ruling, but suggested the football player's celebrity influenced the sentence.

"The fact that he's a celebrity complicates the matter. It's why you all are standing here, is it not?" Lorna Propes, one of Johnson's attorneys, said to reporters Thursday afternoon.

"This sentence was unnecessarily harsh," Propes said. "It's pretty unheard of for these circumstances."

But the Assistant State's Attorney defended the sentence.

"People that are on probation who violate go to jail, and that's what happened and the fact that he's a Chicago Bear player, it didn't matter," Cenar said.

Earlier this month, Sports Illustrated reported that prosecutors would be seeking jail time for his sentence.

The misdemeanor carried a maximum sentence of a year in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.

In a separate case, Johnson has entered a plea of not guilty in Lake County on 10 counts of possessing a weapon without the proper state-required ID.

On Dec. 14, Gurnee police raided his home and found six guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

That same weekend, Johnson's best friend Willie Posey was shot to death at a bar and the Bears imposed what Stein referred to as a "plan of action," a list of requirements which he says Johnson has met.

The Bears suspended Johnson for one game for being out at the club.

Johnson was placed under house arrest after the December raid, but he was permitted to leave to play in the Super Bowl.

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