A former Iowa Lakes Community College administrator is suing the northwest Iowa institution, alleging she was wrongly fired after reporting financial irregularities to federal law enforcement.

Erin Latona, according to her lawsuit, worked from 2022 until she was fired effective in June 2025 as a dean and then chief academic officer for Iowa Lakes, which has campuses in Algona, Emmetsburg, Spencer, Spirit Lake and Estherville.

She was fired, she says, because her superiors suspected, correctly, that she was responsible for a special investigation by the state Auditor Rob Sand's office that remains ongoing. (A spokesperson for Sand confirmed his office is "performing procedures" related to Iowa Lakes.)

According to her complaint, filed July 11 in Emmet County, soon after taking the job,

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