/crime
WICHITA, Kansas (AP) -- A former prison guard romantically involved with one of the two inmates she helped escape pleaded guilty Friday to a federal firearms charge, telling relatives she now realizes she was used.
Prison guard Amber Lynn Goff, 24, was blinded by love when she helped two inmates escape.
"She also feels like one of the world's greatest fools," her mother, Laurie Ann Nutter, said. "She realizes now there wasn't anything real in the relationship. She feels so extremely foolish, she is angry about it."
Nutter spoke before Amber Lynn Goff, 24, pleaded guilty to a federal firearms charge in exchange for reduced charges and a recommendation by prosecutors for a five-year prison term and three years' probation. She also agreed to pay $11,000 in restitution.
As part of the plea deal, three other federal firearms charges are to be dropped at sentencing. The state agreed not to prosecute Goff on additional charges.
A sentencing hearing is set for June.
Goff was indicted in November in the escape the previous month of Jesse Bell, 34, and Steven Ford, 27, from maximum-security exercise pens at El Dorado Correctional Facility. The three were arrested in Grants, New Mexico, a few days later.
In a written statement filed as part of the plea deal, Goff wrote that she received a cell phone call from Ford the evening of the escape. She said she used bolt cutters to cut through the padlock securing an outer gate and drove onto the grounds.
"I approached the outermost wire perimeter fence on foot and used bolt cutters to cut through this fence in order to assist Ford and Bell in their escape from the El Dorado Correctional facility," Goff wrote.
Goff's family said she had a romantic relationship with Ford before the escape. E-mail to a friend 
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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