UNION COUNTY, N.C. — A former Union County DSS supervisor pleaded guilty Tuesday in a child abuse case involving a boy who was found shackled to a porch with a dead chicken tied around this neck.
Wanda Sue Larson was sentenced to 6-17 months in prison and five years probation. Β Larson, 58, and her boyfriend, Dorian Harper, were arrested in November 2013. Β
Harper, 58, was sentenced in March to at least six years in prison. Β He took a plea deal moments before his trial was to begin.
The couple were legal guardians of the victim and four other children. Β All of the children have been placed in the custody of DSS since Larson and Harper were arrested.
During Harper’s hearing, the assistant DA told the judge the victim was almost always chained, day and night.
She said the boy slept on the floor of a bedroom that was locked from the outside and was chained to a railroad tie in the middle of the room next to the other kids.
One of the other children told the judge things took a turn for the worse when Larson decided to have the kids homeschooled. Harper’s attorney says the stress was too much for him.
He is also accused of cutting the 11-year-old victim’s face with a knife, shocking him with electrical wires, and twisting his pinky with a pair of pliers to get him to admit to bad behavior.
The boy’s biological mother told the judge her son is “picked on, bullied because of the scars on his face.”
Both Larson and Harper lost their jobs after their arrest. Β Harper was employed as an emergency room nurse.
