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JAY — A former foster parent and award-winning adoptive mother who was convicted of child abuse was sentenced Wednesday and will serve about three years in prison, a prosecutor said.

After the charges against her were amended, Deidre Matthews, 50, formerly of Jay and now residing in Independence, Missouri, pleaded no contest in Delaware County District Court to 12 counts of child abuse, child neglect and child endangerment.

Matthews received a life sentence, all but four years of which was suspended. She will receive credit for the year she spent in the county jail, said Assistant District Attorney Nick Lelecas, adding that she will have to serve at least 85 percent of the sentence.

She and her former husband, Jerry Matthews, were recognized as Department of Human Services Adoptive Parents of the Year for northeast Oklahoma in 2006.

The couple received the honor after finalizing the adoption of some the children they were raising and before any allegations of abuse were made, said Sheree Powell, Department of Human Services spokeswoman.

“When they adopted the children, their home was not in the condition it later fell into, and they didn’t have all the animals they had at the time the abuse allegations were occurring,” Powell said.