PITTSBURGH — The former executive director of Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV is expected to change her plea to guilty this afternoon to a theft charge that she used her work credit card to buy things for herself.

The intermediate unit is based in Grove City.

Federal prosecutors contend 56-year-old Cecelia Yauger of Grove City made $73,000 in questionable purchases, including at restaurants, pharmacies, department stores and retail outlets.

Yauger resigned in April 2013 from the intermediate unit, a state agency that offers educational services to 27 school districts, including Butler, Slippery Rock, Moniteau, Karns City, Mars, South Butler and Seneca Valley school districts.

Yauger’s attorney has previously said she’ll be able to show that some of the purchases were related to work.

He did not immediately return a call for comment this morning, hours before Yauger was to appear before Chief U.S. District Judge Joy Flowers Conti.

Yauger, who was IU4’s executive director from July 2007 through April 2013, is charged with stealing from a program receiving federal funds. When she resigned, her salary was $124,840.

In court papers, prosecutors claimed that Yauger used a work credit card from American Express to buy personal items and then told her board that the purchases were work-related.