An Ohio woman stood in court asserting her innocence as a judge handed down a sentence of three years’ probation for her role in abusing her child with makeshift restraints such as zip ties, electrical cords, and pipes.

The shocking details came to light after Stacie Gilmore’s 11-year-old son, who had been found wandering alone in a Target store, spoke to police in 2023, according to the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office.

On Tuesday, the Youngstown resident was sentenced following her October conviction. The charges included unlawful restraint, two counts of child endangerment, and one count of domestic violence.

During the three-day trial, Gilmore, 51, took the stand to refute the accusations, but the jury found her guilty. However, she was acquitted of felony kidnapping, which would have carried a potential 10-year prison term.

“While the child was restrained, she would strike him with these objects, inflicting abuse,” stated Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Caitlyn Andrews during her opening remarks, as reported by The Vindicator.

Gilmore and her lawyer accused her son of lying to get her in trouble because she was overprotective and would not let him go to a regular school or use the internet, among other things. “[The child] didn’t want to be there,” defense attorney Jim Lanzo alleged during opening statements, according to The Vindicator.

Gilmore claimed her son would randomly leave her home and “started taking the phone with him” while she was asleep or distracted by other activities. She admitted to tying a bed sheet to her leg and the boy — claiming she told him, “I’m going with you,” if he tried to leave — but insisted she never used zip ties or abused him.

“I’ve never restrained [the boy],” Gilmore testified. “Do I take things away from him? Yes.”

Gilmore’s son accused her during the trial of tying him up in the basement, which she claimed was also not true. She said she forced the boy to sleep on a couch because he had broken three beds from jumping on them, The Vindicator reports.

“I am not a criminal,” Gilmore said at her sentencing Tuesday, according to the local NBC affiliate WFMJ. “I am a beacon to this community. I help people that are on drugs.”

Gilmore, who has been behind bars, had hoped that the justice system would “be lenient” with her, per WFMJ. She received three years of probation and must receive mental health treatment.

Gilmore was ordered to serve 55 more days in jail to complete a total of eight months, according to WFMJ. She must not contact her son as part of the probation, or she will face three years in prison. The boy was removed from her home by the Mahoning County Children’s Services Board.