BATON ROUGE - A high-ranking official at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of wire fraud linked to the theft or misuse of as much as $160,000 from a fund meant to improve recreational opportunities for prison employees and their families.

The Advocate reports 46-year-old former Col. Shirley Whittington, who headed the maximum-security prison's Emergency Medical Services department, entered the plea Wednesday before U.S. District Judge James Brady in Baton Rouge.

A sentencing date has not been set.

Whittington was charged in a bill of information Feb. 9. She resigned in September from her post at Angola amid a probe into the missing money; she had served as treasurer of the nonprofit Angola Employee Recreation Committee since it was set up in 2006.