SAN DIEGO -- Prosecutors recommended that Brent Wilkes, the Poway defense contractor found guilty of bribing disgraced former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, serve 60 years in prison, it was reported Tuesday.

The recommendation was reported by The San Diego Union-Tribune, which cited court documents.

Wilkes is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 19. He was supposed to be sentenced in January but his attorney, celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos, asked for a postponement until next month.

Geragos calls the proposed 60-year sentence "essentially a life sentence" for the 53-year-old Wilkes and plans to challenge it, the local newspaper reported.

Wilkes was convicted in November by a jury on 13 counts of bribery, conspiracy and wire fraud. The jury found that for nearly a decade, Wilkes gave Cunningham cash bribes totaling $625,000, plus lavish meals, trips and other gifts.

In exchange, Cunningham helped Wilkes' company, ADCS Inc., receive millions in federal defense contracts.

Cunningham is serving an eight-year, four-month prison term after pleading guilty in 2005 to conspiracy and tax evasion. Wilkes was just one of several defense contractors to have bribed Cunningham.

The former Republican representative from Rancho Santa Fe, a once-popular legislator regarded as a Vietnam War hero, was elected to eight terms in office. He confessed to accepting more than $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors throughout his tenure in Congress.

In addition to serving prison time, Cunningham's was ordered to pay $3.65 million in back taxes and forfeit assets.