Federal prosecutors are trying to block the release of a former Minnesota state senator who resigned after he was charged with soliciting a minor for prostitution, leveling fresh allegations that he tried to obstruct the FBI’s investigation from jail and lied to court personnel when he said he didn’t have a gun at his apartment.

Prosecutors asked the court in a filing Sunday for a quick ruling that Justin Eichorn be kept in jail instead of released to a halfway house as scheduled on Tuesday.

Eichorn’s new attorneys, whose hiring was first noted in a court filing Sunday, did not immediately reply to voicemails and emails from The Associated Press seeking comment on Monday. The 40-year-old former Republican lawmaker from Grand Rapids has not publicly commented since his arrest during a sting operation in Bloomington last Monday. He was charged in federal court last Wednesday with attempted coercion and enticement of a minor to engage in prostitution, a felony that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years.

In their motion to reopen a detention hearing that was held Thursday, prosecutors said they learned afterward that he had several phone calls in jail with a Grand Rapids woman — identified only as Individual A but described as a close associate — and arranged with her to retrieve a computer and other items from the St. Paul apartment where he lived alone during legislative sessions. They said both had been warned that the call was not private and would be recorded.

According to Eichorn’s profile, which was removed from the Senate website last week, he is married with four children.

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