Feds want Ahrensfield to do hard time

ALBUQUERQUE N.M. (KRQE) - Federal prosecutors want former Albuquerque Police Department Officer Brad Ahrensfield to do hard time.  He scheduled for sentencing September 6th.

Ahrensfield was convicted of obstruction of justice and could serve up to 20 years behind bars. This week they filed paperwork to try and make sure a judge who decides his punishment doesn't go easy on Ahrensfield.

Prosecutors say he lied over and over, showed no remorse and abused his position of trust as an APD officer.

Ahresnfield was convicted of tipping off a buddy that APD and the FBI were watching the buddy and his downtown car dealership. Investigators suspected Ahrensfield's friend and his workers were peddling drugs out of the business.

Ahrensfield claimed it wasn't a leak because he wasn't part of the undercover operation.  The feds call that argument absurd.

An attorney for Ahrensfield says they're fighting to get him probation.  He says Ahrensfield has served his country with distinction in the military and spent most of his adult life protecting the community as a police officer.

Ahrensfield's attorney also says he will face his sentence like he has faced every other challenge: head-on and respectful of the process.

This isn't the first time Ahrensfield got in trouble while he was on the force.  He had a long list of complaints against him and was fired by APD in 1998. He then sued and got his job back.