NEWARK, Ohio — An Ohio woman accused of regularly locking her young son in an unfinished basement for months has pleaded guilty to one count of child endangering and has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Angel Abram, 35, pleaded guilty and was sentenced Monday in Newark. Officials said Abram and her boyfriend kept her 6-year-old son in a 6-foot-by-8-foot room in their home when he wasn’t in school and beat him with a belt.

The boy was forced to eat his meals in the dirty basement, authorities said, and he had to use a toddler potty that he emptied himself.

‘‘He was the forgotten child, the disposable child,’’ Assistant Licking County Prosecutor Paula Sawyers said.

The abuse apparently stemmed from the boy’s behavioral issues, according to Sawyers. Abram’s attorney Kristin Burkett said her client has battered woman’s syndrome.

Judge David Branstool said he didn’t believe the case was ‘‘classic battered woman’s syndrome,’’ adding he didn’t understand Abram’s behavior.

Associated Press