SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) — A Sioux City woman was sentenced to more than a year in federal prison for escaping from custody while she was at a halfway house.

Karen Rose Merrick, 39, was sentenced Wednesday in the Sioux City federal courthouse to 15 months imprisonment with one year of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. She pleaded guilty to escape from custody and revocation of supervised release on December 13, 2022.

As part of the guilty plea, Merrick admitted to signing out of Dismas Charities Residential Reentry Center (RRC) on August 2, 2022, to report for work at a Sioux City company. Staff at RRC called the company to ensure that Merrick had arrived to work on August 1 and 2, 2022, but the company said she hadn’t been there.

Merrick also didn’t return to RRC on August 2, 2022, and her location was unknown until she was arrested by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on September 9, 2022.

Merrick was at RRC after being convicted in January 2020 for the charge of accessory after the fact to bank robbery. She had been sentenced to 30 months in prison with two years of supervision afterward. She started her supervised release on January 27, 2021, and was placed at the RRC for a 90-day period in July 2022.

Merrick is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until she can be transported to a federal prison.