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NILES — A Niles woman was sentenced to prison Monday at the Niles courthouse for abusing her children.

Angeleah Rose Jackson, 34, of Niles, pleaded no contest to two counts of third-degree child abuse and was sentenced to two concurrent terms of 17 months to two years in prison. She has credit for 74 days served and must pay $266 in fines and costs.

      The incident occurred Jan. 3 in Niles.

      Berrien County Assistant Prosecutor Myrene Koch said that Jackson is also the subject of an abuse and neglect case in family court. Koch said at least one of the children has sought and is getting counseling. She spoke of one child who was beaten, dragged by her hair and then had a tray thrown at her.

      Defense attorney Daniel French objected to Koch’s characterization of Jackson’s behavior as sadism. He called it a matter of discipline going too far.

      Berrien County Trial Court Judge Gordon Hosbein agreed in part with Koch although he didn’t think it rose to the level of sadism.

“It was abuse and went beyond parental discipline,” he said.

      “In her description of the offense, she at first said she couldn’t remember what happened and then said it had gotten out of hand,” Koch said. “It was her responsibility and duty to take care of her children, not to beat them. In these types of cases, the guidelines can’t fathom what the children went through.”

      In his comments before the sentencing, French said he’s not sure if Jackson actually understands all that’s going on. He said that the incident will change her and her children’s lives forever, noting that the children are in foster care.

Judge Hosbein called the videos he saw of the incident “horrendous.”

“This was a terrible situation where the children were abused for who knows how long and they will be dealing with it for a lifetime,” he said.