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MONROE, N.C. (AP) — A former social worker apologized for failing to protect the kids in her care as she was sentenced Tuesday to up to 17 months in prison over the abuse of a boy who was found handcuffed to her porch with a dead chicken around his neck.
Under the terms of Wanda Sue Larson's plea deal, she also was given a suspended sentence for failure to carry out her duties as a Union County social worker.
"I just wanted to tell the kids how sorry I am that I couldn't protect them," Larson said. "I should have done more and I didn't and I'm sorry for that."
Sentencing guidelines called for a maximum of 86 months in prison. Larson's boyfriend, Dorian Harper, pleaded guilty March 18 to similar child abuse charges and got a longer sentence — at least six years.
Larson also was given 5½ years of probation and was ordered not to have contact with any of the children who had been in the home while she's under court supervision.
Larson, 58, entered the courtroom using a walker. She was dressed in an orange jumpsuit, which she covered up with a coat, and sat on a bench behind the defense table until her case was called.
Initially, she answered Judge Reuben Young's questions with "yes" or "yes sir," occasionally looking at her attorney.
Prosecutors said during Harper's hearing that the boy was beaten and starved and had been forced to sleep on a floor chained to part of a railroad tie. The prosecutors also described the boy's condition, saying he had suffered marks and scars on his body as well as a broken wrist and an infected hand, which led to charges against Larson for not seeking medical treatment for the boy.
According to the sentencing report, the children gave investigators details of what went on at the house, and they said Larson wasn't there to see much of it.
Larson had been the boy's legal guardian for years and was a supervisor with the local Department of Social Services. She had adopted four other children who were in the home when the couple was arrested. The children, ranging in age from 8 to 15, have been placed in social services custody in another county.
Union County District Attorney Trey Robison had said he agreed to a plea deal for Larson, as he did for Harper, largely because he does not want to revictimize the boy by forcing him to testify.
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