MACKINAC ISLAND, MI — Republican House Speaker Craig DeRoche said Friday that Michigan Department of Corrections Director Patricia Caruso should quit or be removed from her job.

DeRoche noted mistakes made during the department's handling of the case of admitted killer Patrick Selepak, who was mistakenly released from prison before going on a crime spree earlier this year.

DeRoche made the comments to Detroit radio station WJR while at the Detroit Regional Chamber's Mackinac Policy Conference. In a statement issued later Friday, he also referenced Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

"The governor and director's haphazard effort to remove lower-level corrections workers doesn't make up for the fact that fundamental policy missteps were made by the department," DeRoche, of Novi, said in a statement. "The buck must stop at the top, and Caruso should step down. If she refuses, the governor should take control of her administration and let her go."

After a three-month investigation into Selepak's release, a division of the Department of Corrections was disbanded and four employees were disciplined.

"We conducted an investigation," Department of Corrections spokesman Leo Lalonde said Friday. "We've completed our disciplinary proceedings. We're moving on."

Caruso said earlier this week that if she believed her departure would solve problems in the department, she would resign.

But Granholm is not going to remove Caruso of her duties, said Heidi Watson, a spokeswoman for the governor.

"Pat Caruso is a tough leader who has made the tough calls and put the Corrections house in order," Watson said in a statement. "She has led a full investigation — fired incompetent staff and put the department on notice through new policies and procedures that we will not tolerate decisions that jeopardize public safety."

Sen. Alan Sanborn, a Richmond Republican who has criticized the department's handling of the Selepak case, has said the disciplinary measures are appropriate. He plans to meet with Caruso next week.

"I would stop short of calling for her dismissal," Sanborn said earlier this week. "I'd like to see what other steps they are going to take."

Sanborn said Caruso has kept in good touch with the Legislature regarding the Selepak case.

"She has made every effort to try to keep me in the loop," Sanborn said.

Selepak, 27, and his fiancee, Samantha Bachynski, 20, each are charged in a crime spree earlier this year that resulted in three killings and a robbery. The investigation determined that Selepak should have been in prison at the time of the slayings on a parole violation charge.

Selepak has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and other charges in the shooting and strangulation death of Winfield Johnson at Johnson's home near Flint. Bachynski also is charged in his death.

The two also are charged with killing Scott and Melissa Berels, both 27, in their home in Macomb County.