Leavenworth ? A dog trainer pleaded guilty Thursday to helping a convicted murderer escape from prison in a dog crate.

As part of a plea agreement, Toby Young, 48, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting aggravated escape and introducing contraband – a cellular phone – into the prison.

Leavenworth County prosecutor Frank Kohl said as part of the deal, Young will be sentenced to 21 months in prison at a July 12 hearing. She also agreed to pay roughly $7,500 in restitution to compensate the Department of Corrections for overtime accrued by officers and travel expenses.

“It was an appropriate disposition,” Kohl said. “It addresses what she did.”

He said had the case gone to trial, Young could have faced a sentence ranging from probation to 32 months in prison.

Young, a married mother of two, admitted that she drove murderer John Manard, 27, from the Lansing Correctional Facility on Feb. 12 in a van she used as part of the Safe Harbor Dogs dog training program, which she ran at the prison.

Corrections officials said Young and Manard used the phone to plan the escape. The two were at large for two weeks before being captured in Tennessee.

Her preliminary hearing had been scheduled for today.

Starting in 2004, Young ran the Safe Harbor program, which used inmates to train dogs recovered from area shelters.

Toby Young, a dog trainer accused of helping a convicted killer escape from Lansing Correctional Facility, appears Friday morning in Leavenworth County District Court. Her bond has been set at 00,000, but her attorney says she probably will remain in jail for the time being. Her next court date is March 17.

Manard, who was serving a life prison term for a 1996 Johnson County murder, was one of the dog trainers.

As part of the program, Young made frequent trips to bring dogs into the prison. She gained the staff’s trust during that time, and prison officials said she took advantage of that trust to drive Manard out of the prison.

Prosecutors said Manard was in a dog crate in the back of a van, and a guard at the gate did not conduct a thorough search of the van before letting it leave the prison.

After a highly publicized search, the two were arrested Feb. 24 near Chattanooga, Tenn., where they had rented a secluded cabin. They were caught shortly after leaving a Barnes & Noble bookstore, and authorities said the cabin was full of things the two bought while on the run.

The Safe Harbor van was found in a storage locker about 10 miles from the prison two days after the escape. Authorities said two pistols Young took from her home and a security box with nearly $25,000 in cash were in the cabin. They also said Young had purchased hair dye and a razor before the escape.

Manard was serving a life term for the 1996 murder of Donald England during a carjacking in Overland Park.