Twelve days in jail is the sentence for a onetime Lino Lakes care center employee who was caught on cellphone video taunting a patient about how soon she was going to die and threatening to set her on fire with a cigarette lighter.

Chanta Hampton, 27, of Coon Rapids, was sentenced Friday in Anoka County District Court after pleading guilty to abuse of a vulnerable adult by a caregiver, a gross misdemeanor. A felony stalking charge was dismissed.

Hampton will serve her 12 days in jail during six consecutive weekends starting next month. Her sentence also calls for two years of supervised probation.

The prosecution continues against a co-defendant and also a former Lino Lakes Assisted Living and Memory Care employee, Sarah A. Mills, 27, of Circle Pines.

Both resigned within minutes of being confronted about the three to four hours of abusing 70-year-old dementia patient Suzanne Edwards on Feb. 3 and 4.

Police were given videos taken by another employee that revealed some of the abuse inflicted on Edwards, a former emergency room nurse. The videos, in concert with witness statements from staff members, formed the foundation of the investigations by police and the state Health Department.

One employee acknowledged witnessing Hampton as she "had a cigarette lighter turned on, and it was put right by Suzanne Edwards' face," a police report read.

The Health Department investigation found that Edwards replied: "Are you going to light me on fire? Well, do it already." To which Hampton replied, "I will; don't test me, woman."

Abusive comments hurled at Edwards in a "singsong" delivery, according to the state investigation, included "I can wipe my own [buttocks]" and "I'm gonna live longer than you."

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482