A mother who left her two children in the care of a family though she knew they were being sexually and physically abused there has been sentenced to the maximum 16 years in prison.

Fifty-eight-year-old Karen Stillman pleaded guilty in July to attempted child abuse with serious bodily injury and was sentenced Friday in Denver District Court.

An arrest affidavit said she left her son and daughter, now in their 20s, in the care of the family of Eric and Linda Torrez in the mid-1990s. The couple and their son also faced charges in the case.