HILLSBORO, Ore. -- An Oregon woman who forced children to shoplift was sentenced to 30 days in jail by a judge who called her a "miserable" parent.

Amber M. Wilson, 24, of Beaverton must also take parenting classes and can have no contact with children, except her own under Department of Human Services supervision.

"You are about as miserable of a parent as can possibly be," Washington County Judge Gayle A. Nachtigal said Thursday. "What we want to avoid is having your children grow up just like you."

The judge wasn't moved by Wilson's tearful apology.

"If you really cared, you wouldn't have done it," she said. "If you really cared about your children, you wouldn't have done it.

"So your tears and your 'I'm really sorry' is a waste of time because nobody is going to believe it."

Wilson and her husband, Adam W. Brown, 27, were arrested Oct. 17 after Target employees saw a couple load their car with items that a 14-year-old girl and 9-year-old boy pushed out of the store without buying.

Based on surveillance photos and loss reports, Wilson and Brown hit Washington County Target and Fred Meyer stores so many times last year that employees were on the lookout for them, said Jason Weiner, deputy district attorney.

"They were professional shoplifters who were using children to do their dirty work," Weiner said.

The teenage girl and her mother lived with the couple in a Beaverton apartment furnished with more than $10,000 in stolen TVs, stereos and other high-end electronic items.

The girl told police that Wilson and Brown made her "steal almost every day," Weiner said.

Brown and Wilson lived with two of their own kids and five others. Police said some of the children were involved in the shoplifting, and some were present but not made to participate.

Brown has also pleaded guilty in the case. Because he has prior convictions for criminal mischief and assault, he will be sentenced to 13 months in prison under a plea agreement.