MONROE, N.C. — A former social worker in North Carolina was sentenced Tuesday to up to 17 months in prison after pleading guilty to child abuse charges that arose when a boy in her care was found handcuffed to a porch with a dead chicken around his neck.
Under terms of Wanda Sue Larson’s plea arrangement, she also was given a suspended sentence for failure to carry out her duties as a Union County social worker. That charge stemmed from her failure to protect the boy and the other children in the home.
The then-11-year-old boy was found at Larson’s home in November 2013.
Larson apologized in court, saying she wished she had done a better job of protecting the children.
Her boyfriend, Dorian Harper, pleaded guilty March 18 to similar charges and was sentenced to at least six years in prison.