Wichita ? An illegal immigrant accused of threatening a federal prosecutor in Arizona was sentenced Monday to a year in prison for paying a smuggler $1,000 to bring her nephew into the United States.

Angela Ramos-Ocana, 60, had pleaded guilty in June to intentionally encouraging an alien to live in the United States. Prosecutors had recommended a sentence of time served with immediate deportation for the Dodge City woman.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson told a federal judge Monday that Ramos-Ocana had “expressed to our office her remorse for what happened here.”

Her defense attorney, David Freund, also argued for leniency, noting her age and saying this was her only exposure to the courts in the United States. The woman made no comments in court other than saying that she agreed with her attorney.

But U.S. District Judge Monti Belot rejected the recommendation, calling it “a very serious offense” while handing down the maximum prison time under federal sentencing guidelines. In addition to the prison time, Ramos-Ocana was also given three years’ probation after release.

As part of a plea deal, the U.S. attorney’s office dropped charges alleging she made threatening comments about a federal prosecutor in Arizona. The threats were recorded during jailhouse conversations she had while living in Dodge City with her nephew, who was imprisoned in Phoenix in a human smuggling case.

In one recording on Sept. 6, she repeatedly asked her nephew, Freddy Ovando-Ocana, to get the name of the assistant U.S. attorney in Arizona who was handling his case to see “what we can do here, to shut her mouth up.”