Calling a 12-year prison sentence "unreasonable," federal prosecutors in San Diego have positioned themselves to ask an appellate court to toughen the term that a judge handed Poway defense contractor Brent Wilkes.

Even though the necessary paperwork has been filed, the U.S. attorney's office won't comment on its plans.

Wilkes has been behind bars since he was sentenced last month following his conviction for bribing former North County U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham.

A jury found that Wilkes gave Cunningham $636,000 in mortgage payments for the then-congressman's home and boat, as well as treated him to lavish vacations and encounters with prostitutes.

In return, the Republican lawmaker who represented the 50th Congressional District steered more than $80 million in taxpayer-funded defense contracts to Wilkes' now-defunct firm, ADCS Inc.

Wilkes filed notice with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that he planned to fight his November conviction. At the end his monthlong trial, a federal court jury in San Diego found Wilkes guilty on all 13 counts that included bribery, conspiracy, money laundering and wire fraud.

Last week, prosecutors filed notice of a "cross appeal," stating that the sentence U.S. District Judge Larry Alan Burns gave Wilkes "was a result of an incorrect application" of federal sentencing guidelines.

The one-page document is a notice to the court that the government may later lodge a detailed complaint regarding the sentence. The filing does not indicate what sentence prosecutors believe is appropriate.

"No comment," said Debra Hartman, the spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego, when asked about the filing this week.

Wilkes is being represented by the federal public defender's office in San Diego. Its executive director, Reuben Cahn, said Thursday that he believes it would be "absurd" for the government to seek a longer sentence.

"The idea that Brent should get more time then Randy 'Duke' Cunningham is an anathema," Cahn said. "It is absurd. It makes no sense at all … and it really shows they lost perspective on this matter."

At his Feb. 19 sentencing, prosecutors asked Burns to sentence Wilkes to up to 25 years in prison.

The minimum punishment they sought, 16 years, was double the time Burns handed Cunningham, who pleaded guilty in 2005 to bribery and tax evasion.

Cunningham is serving his sentence of eight years, four months in a federal prison work camp near Tucson, Ariz.

In court documents filed before Wilkes' sentencing, prosecutors described the defense contractor as the spider and Cunningham the fly in the massive corruption case, characterizing Wilkes as "the poster boy for war profiteering."

The 53-year-old Wilkes is in the process of being transferred from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in San Diego to an unidentified federal prison.

"Due to security concerns, that's not something we can talk about until he arrives at his designated facility," jail spokeswoman Karen Banks said Thursday.

Wilkes had been at the 12-story downtown jail since his sentencing.

Contact staff writer Teri Figueroa at (760) 740-5442 or tfigueroa@nctimes.com. Comment at nctimes.com.