INDEPENDENCE, Mo. -- At the request of the victim, a Jackson County judge gave probation to a woman accused of plotting to steal the pregnant teenager's unborn child.

Alisa Betts, 18, of Atchison, Kan., pleaded guilty last month to kidnapping and first-degree assault.

Betts was allegedly involved in an attack last year on Amanda Howard, then 18. Prosecutors said Betts and another woman, Lauren Gash, had met the teen on the Internet and lured her from her home in Clinton, Mo.

They said the two then took the teen to a Blue Springs, Mo., motel, but their plan to take her unborn baby was stopped after Betts got cold feet and called police.

Howard, who has since married and has changed her name to Amanda Howard-Culley, has been taking care of her then 11-month-old son in her hometown of Clinton, Mo., and is expecting her second child, a girl.

In court Friday, Betts apologized to Howard-Culley.

"I'm sorry for what happened. Nobody should ever have to go through what you did, and I'm just very sorry that it happened," Betts said.

Howard-Culley urged the judge to place Betts on probation and have her seek counseling and do community service.

"Honestly, if it wasn't for her, I know I wouldn't be alive," Howard-Culley said.

The judge sentenced Betts to two concurrent six-year prison terms but then put her on probation.

After she is released from the Jackson County Jail, Betts will be taken to Johnson County, Mo., where the kidnapping actually occurred, to face possible charges.

Gash pleaded guilty in July to kidnapping, assault and felonious restraint. She was sentenced in August to eight years in prison.