"It's hard for me to see how those goals were achieved in such a short time," Ferguson said.

Parole officials said Zieser was placed on supervised parole in part because she was considered a low risk to re-offend, isn't a public safety threat and had no prior convictions.

"It's based on risk factors, it's based on a number of commitments and it's based on her criminal history. And if you look at her criminal history, she's got nothing," said Doris Kelley, chairwoman of the Iowa Board of Parole.

She noted that during her time in prison, Zieser didn't have any disciplinary issues.

Kelley said the parole board and corrections officials prefer to keep prison space for those who are more likely to commit other crimes or are a threat to the community.

"We look at 'is it safer to keep those beds for people that are more apt to go out and commit a crime again and is a public safety (issue) and which ones do we think we can supervise in the community?" Kelley said.

Zieser will be on parole until she discharges in August 2016, Kelley said. She also was ordered to pay about $600,000 in restitution, which includes the missing money and the cost of the audit used in the investigation.

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