GOLDEN, Colo. -- A 31-year-old homeless mother was given a nine-year prison sentence in Jefferson County Thursday for having sex with the teenage son of a family who took her in. She could have been sentenced to 12 years.

Tani Leigh Firkins was also ordered not to have contact with the teen who is now raising the baby boy born as a result of their illegal affair.

The victim's father said the sentence was appropriate.

"This is a very sad occasion. A lot of lives have been devastated. We aren't experiencing any level of joy or victory or any of those kinds of things at all," he said outside the courtroom.

He runs a program that helps homeless women and their children. The program first arranged housing for Firkins in 1993 and helped her out of homelessness a total of three times, the father said. She regularly went to church with the family, celebrated holidays with them and gave the victim's parents cards for Mother's Day and Father's Day.

"She repaid us by molesting our son for over three years," the victim's father said. "I can't imagine feeling more betrayed."

According to an arrest affidavit, the teen said Firkins first performed oral sex on him in 2000 at a storage facility in Arvada when he was helping her move. The teen told the police the two later had sex on numerous occasions, and Firkins also videotaped the two having sex.

The victim told the judge Thursday that Firkins showed him pornographic materials and bought marijuana and alcohol for him and his friends. He said in a steady voice that he didn't want to tell his story in the courtroom but felt he had to, to prevent others from being abused.

"She is a selfish sexual predator who preyed upon me," he said.

Firkins apologized to her victim and his family.

"There is nothing I can say to heal the pain they are feeling," she said.

"Kiss my babies for me," Firkins said to her mother as she walked out of the courtroom in handcuffs.

The Jefferson County District Attorney's Office originally filed 12 felony counts against Firkins, but 11 of them were dropped as part of her plea bargain. Charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, marijuana sale and distribution, and sex assault on a child were thrown out when Firkins admitted felony sexual exploitation of a child on June 13.

The family said the charge that Firkins plead guilty to was the result of her taking pornographic videos of her and their son having sex.

The family is not being identified in order to protect the identity of the victim.

Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey plans to meet with boy and his father on Sept. 6 to discuss the Denver case against Firkins. The boy's father wants Firkins charged in Denver where he said Firkins also sexually assaulted his son on multiple occasions.