Faced with a January 2014 deadline to obtain a grand jury indictment on child pornography charges, the government and lawyers for Jesse Ryan Loskarn, the fired chief of staff for Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., have agreed to a 30-day delay.

Federal Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola approved the postponement, requested because of the holiday season and the fact that “much of the forensic work has not yet been completed,” according to court documents. The deadline to bring an indictment on charges of possession and distribution was moved to Feb. 10.

The motion for extension also suggests the parties to the high-profile suit are pursuing a plea bargain. They “intend to explore the possibility of a pre-indictment disposition,” the motion states.

The legal team defending Loskarn, attorneys Pam Satterfield and Stuart Sears, said in an email that they had no comment on the extension or their client’s status. Loskarn was released into the custody of his parents, Chuck and Laura Loskarn, on Dec. 16, for supervised detention in their Sykesville, Md., home.

Under the terms of a “high intensity supervision program,” Loskarn, 35, is confined to his home around the clock, with the exception of court-related appointments or hospital visits. He is also banned from the use of computers or any device that can connect to the Internet.

U.S. Postal Inspection Service agents arrested Loskarn on Dec. 11, after breaking into his Southeast D.C. home with a ram, following a sweeping child pornography investigation. During the sweep, they recovered a hard drive featuring explicit footage of children as young as 6 years old, according to prosecutors.

Law enforcement agents allege Loskarn made several purchases from a movie production company specializing in videos featuring nude, young boys between November 2010 and March 2011. They also say his IP address was identified as sharing pornographic files on a peer-to-peer site.

Loskarn faces up to to 30 years in prison if convicted on all charges.

Alexander replaced his chief of staff following the arrest and has called the charges “repugnant and disturbing.”