The year-long criminal case of the woman who reportedly locked her children in rooms filthy with rotting food and human waste came to an end Friday -- with the judge refusing to reduce the charges leveled against Sylvia Vasquez from a felony to a misdemeanor.

This ruling means that Vasquez, 51, likely will be required to serve a majority of the remaining 162 days of her one-year sentence for child abuse at Santa Barbara County Jail. She already has served 204 days while in custody.

The ruling also means the record of the former day-care center operator will carry a felony.

Additionally, Superior Court Judge Frank Ochoa sentenced Vasquez to 10 years of probation, saying if she violated even one condition, she would serve up to 10 years in state prison.

Although Friday’s ruling provided closure, the real climax of the courtroom drama happened at the beginning of the year, when the judge handed the defense a victory by capping her sentence to one year in county jail if she pled no contest. That's a far cry from the state prison sentence of 10 years sought by the prosecution.

By comparison, Friday’s decision was more of a fight over scraps. So it could be considered a small victory for the prosecution.

“I think there’s no punishment that can be commensurate with this crime,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Joyce Dudley said. “How do you eventually find a sentence that equals torturing children? But I think the judge was eloquent in his sentencing today. He gave the best sentence possible under the circumstances.”

Despite the judge's ruling, Vasquez could get out of jail in a matter of a few weeks, for a combination of good behavior and jail overcrowding.

Defense lawyer Robert Sanger said his client, who pleaded no contest to four felony charges, is a caring mother who made a very serious mistake.

“She did do this thing in large part in good faith, and things sort of spiraled out of control, particularly towards the end,” Sanger said.

Vasquez was arrested on Jan. 5, 2006 at her home at 2839 Foothill Road after a neighbor reported that her four adopted children — at the time ages 13, 12, 9 and 6 — were allegedly being abused.

Authorities reported finding a downstairs room occupied by a 13-year-old boy that contained a large bag of trash with rotting food inside, a bed, a toothbrush, a bottle of water and a bucket holding urine and feces. The room had an external dead bolt, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department.

The 6-year-old girl had a bedroom upstairs, at the opposite end of the house, according to investigators who described a bed in that room located within a 3-by-5-foot "cage," which was described by the defense lawyer as a bunk bed with a door.

The prosecution contended that Vasquez injected one daughter with Lupron, a drug that staves off puberty, to keep her small. Dudley also introduced 71 photos of the girl posed semi-nude and nude — many of them constituting "child erotica" and two of which an FBI investigator categorized as "child pornography."

Defense witnesses testified Vasquez did not lock her children up during the day, but only did so at night when all other avenues to protect them were exhausted. Some testified how she frequently took her children to Disneyland, museums and church and enrolled them in ice skating and music lessons.

Sanger said the reason he asked the judge to reduce the criminal charges from felony to misdemeanor was partly because she showed such remorse on the stand.

The defense lawyer added that although the criminal case is over, Vasquez will continue to try to regain custody of her children in the juvenile court system.

The conditions of her probation include: She cannot leave Santa Barbara County without the permission of her probation officer; when she is released from jail she must seek and maintain regular employment; she must take classes on child abuse treatment; her house can be searched by authorities without a warrant at any time; and she must receive therapy at her own expense.

The lawyers said she could be released from jail early -- perhaps within a couple months -- for good behavior.