NEWARK - A Newark woman accused of routinely locking her young son in an unfinished basement for months was sentenced this morning to three years in prison. Angel Abram, 35, pleaded guilty in Licking County Common Pleas Court to a single count of child-endangering.

NEWARK � From the outside, the house on Wilson Street looked harmless enough.



Sure, the white metal posts on the porch were beginning to rust, weeds crept up through the cracks in the sidewalk leading to the front door, but there was nothing about the house west of downtown Newark that screamed danger or abuse.



But for the 6-year-old little boy who called it home, that house was a dungeon.



Routinely locked in the basement over the course of six months, he didn�t see much of that clover-filled lawn.



Now, the mother that kept him there will be locked away herself.



Angel Abram, 35, pleaded guilty Monday in Licking County Common Pleas Court to a single-count of child-endangering. Judge David Branstool sentenced her to three years in prison.



Abram and her boyfriend, Joshua Bergeron, 39, were charged in October after the Licking County Children Services agency received a complaint. Bergeron is not related to the boy.



Abram�s son and two older children at the home told police and a children services worker that the boy was regularly locked in the basement of the home.



Everyone had a room at the house, the 6-year-old told detectives, but his room wasn�t like the others. It was �scary� and �cold� and it smelled bad, he said, according to police accounts.



There were no teddy bears, no children�s� bedding set featuring a favorite superhero. Instead, the 6-by-8 foot room in the basement contained a deflated air mattress, blanket and pillow. The room locked from the outside, and had an alarm that would sound if the boy got out.



He was forced to eat meals alone, and was repeatedly hit with a belt on the buttocks, according to court documents. He was allowed to use a potty-training chair for toddlers and was responsible for carrying the chair upstairs to dump its contents and clean it himself.



Three other children in the home at the time � a 13-year-old, 12-year-old and an infant � didn�t appear to be abused or mistreated. The abuse of the 6-year-old appeared to stem from his ADHD and behavioral issues, said Licking County Assistant Prosecutor Paula Sawyers.



�That was their way of dealing with it,� she said.



In court filings prior to Abram�s change of plea, her attorney argued that Abram suffered from Battered Woman�s Syndrome from her relationship with Bergeron, which helped explain Abram�s failure to act to ensure the safety of her child.



But prosecutors argued that Abram had ample opportunity to leave, seek help, or report any issues, but she failed to do so. Sawyers said the children�s accounts indicated both Abram and Bergeron played equal parts in the abuse.



In March, Bergeron pleaded no contest to child endangering and having a weapon under disability, and was sentenced to four years in prison.



The victim, now 7, and the other children are doing well and remain in custody of children services, Sawyers said.