DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The former finance director of a drug treatment agency has taken a plea deal in her embezzlement case. Court records say 37-year-old Amy Howell pleaded guilty Monday to felony ongoing criminal conduct and to misdemeanor unauthorized use of a credit card. Prosecutors dropped forgery and theft charges in return for Howell’s pleas. Her sentencing is scheduled Aug. 28.

Prosecutors say Howell stole more than $82,000 from the Substance Abuse Treatment Unit of Central Iowa, which is headquartered in Marshalltown. The agency provides substance abuse prevention and treatment services in Hardin, Marshall, Poweshiek and Tama counties.

Prosecutors agreed in the plea deal to recommend a suspended 25-year prison sentence and five years of probation on the criminal conduct charge and seven days in jail on the credit card count, plus restitution.

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A lawsuit against the Iowa Corrections Department says an inmate was kept in prison for more than five months after he’d completed his sentence. The Sioux City Journal reports that Sioux City resident Jacob Schmidt is seeking from the state more than $40,000 in compensation and nearly $3,300 in wages he says he earned in prison but the state kept.

The lawsuit filed June 30 in Woodbury County District Court says corrections officials knew or should have known that Schmidt had finished his sentence from a 2007 conviction on July 15, 2015, yet he wasn’t released until Dec. 23 of that year. Iowa attorney general’s office spokesman Geoff Greenwood said Wednesday the state will be reviewing the lawsuit before filing an answer in court. He declined to comment further.