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Friday, November 1, 2013

Guilty plea in felony assault, witness tampering case

Today, November 1, 2013, in Muscatine County District Court, Phillip AHRENS (DOB: 6/6/1990) pled guilty to Assault Resulting in Serious Injury and Conspiracy to Commit Tampering with a Witness.

The assault charge against AHRENS resulted from an incident on July 31, 2013, in Muscatine when he struck and kicked a female. The female victim suffered a fractured orbit and bleeding on the brain as a result of the attack.

While in custody on the assault charge AHRENS conspired with another person to tamper with witnesses in an effort to get them to provide false information to law enforcement and the courts.

"I am very pleased with this guilty plea," said Muscatine County Attorney Alan Ostergren. "After viciously assaulting the victim the defendant then assaulted the rule of law by attempting to get people to lie on his behalf," he continued.

AHRENS will be sentenced December 6, 2013, at 9:15 a.m. "We intend to ask the court for the maximum seven year prison term," said Ostergren.

The arrest and prosecution of AHRENS was the result of an investigation by the Muscatine Police Department, Street Crimes Unit. "The police officers in this case did outstanding work," said Ostergren. "They went above and beyond - both to make the original case and to break up his efforts to tamper with witnesses," added Ostergren.