SANTA CLARA COUNTY (BCN) — A retired college professor who abducted her daughter out of Santa Clara County more than 25 years ago and was arrested last year in Arizona living under another name was sentenced to probation on Wednesday.

Valerie Rae Berry, 57, appeared at the Hall of Justice in San Jose where Superior Court Judge Allison Danner sentenced her to three years of probation, 50 hours of community service and a year in county jail, which she has credit for time already served.

Berry’s attorney Elizabeth Grossman said in court that her client intends to make arrangements to serve probation in Arizona where she currently resides.

Berry pleaded guilty in June to a felony charge of child abduction, Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney James Cahan said.

Berry had marital problems in the years leading up to the abduction. In 1987, she took the child from her then-husband Ken Newman for three months, then reconciled with him, Cahan said.

A year later when the couple began filing for divorce, Berry accused Newman of molesting their daughter, but an investigation didn’t substantiate her claim, according to Cahan.

Berry departed from the county in March 1990 with the daughter, who was a toddler, despite a court order giving Newman visitation rights, Cahan said.

The woman concealed her and her daughter’s true identities by changing their names and Social Security numbers, according to Cahan.

Berry went by the name Aleksasha Webster at Arizona State University, where she worked from 2004 to 2013 in various roles including as a graduate teaching assistant and part-time professor at the college’s design school, school officials said.

Investigators were able to find Berry through monitoring her false identities, checking her social media profiles and other documents, Cahan said.

She was arrested last year on a $250,000 warrant in Phoenix, where she went by another name, Aleks Kelsi Webster, and was extradited to Santa Clara County, Cahan said.

On Wednesday, Newman met his daughter for the first time in 26 years and described her as beautiful, happy and responsible.

Newman detailed the deep emotional effects he felt in the more than 9,000 days he spent not knowing where his daughter went and used his suffering as motivation to look for her.

The 67-year-old man said he lit candles for his daughter’s birthday every year and kept her belongings left behind in their home, including the blanket she slept with at night.

Newman contacted Berry’s family and friends and reached out to professional groups with similar interests she had in his search for them.

Three years ago, Newman said he started a Facebook page to seek help in reuniting with his daughter, who was 3 years old when she was taken.

Newman said he blamed Berry for the confusion, withdrawal and trepidation he endured when she kept their daughter to herself.

He refuted claims that he molested their daughter by putting his head between her legs, a story that he learned of after Berry took off with their child.

Newman said he was giving the young girl a bath and stuck his head in the water to blow bubbles.

Newman also read excerpts that resonated with him from the book “A Stolen Life: A Memoir,” written by Jaycee Dugard, a woman kidnapped in 1991 from her South Lake Tahoe home when she was 11 years old and taken to an area near Antioch where she was assaulted for many years by Phillip Garrido before authorities found her in 2009.

Newman was informed on June 17, 2015, by county law enforcement that his daughter was found, which he said was an “astonishing” day for him, but said his thoughts were still “fragmented and jumbled” just like Dugard.

Since the abduction, Newman has remarried, fathered a 16-year-old son and lives in Mount Pleasant, a town in South Carolina where he works as a substitute teacher.

The daughter, now 30 years old, was born Mackenzie Rae Newman but legally changed her name to Elaura Dayana Webster. She fought back tears as she addressed the court in a one-page statement.

Webster called Berry “the best mom in the world” who baked her birthday cakes and even made a handmade dress for her prom, Webster said.

Berry also taught Webster the value of education and supported her as she “tried every extracurricular activity under the sun.

Webster didn’t address her father in the statement read in court.

The 30-year-old woman said she has a master’s degree, works in the medical field and is a registered yoga teacher.