IOWA FALLS (AP) - A former director of the Hardin County Solid Waste Disposal Commission has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for mishandling nearly $128,000.

Mary Ellen Taylor was sentenced Wednesday in Hardin County District Court in Iowa Falls. She pleaded guilty last month to first-degree theft.

The charges followed a state audit that found Taylor had misappropriated nearly $128,000 from the county's solid waste commission between Jan. 1, 2002 and Dec. 1, 2007.

The audit report detailed how Taylor used the funds to pay her own credit cards and to her husband's business.

Taylor was fired on Dec. 18, 2007 after auditors reported the improper disbursements from commission accounts. She was arrested in March.

Taylor also was ordered to pay more than $35,000 restitution.