How Could You? Hall of Shame -Wanda Sue Larson and Dorian Lee Harper UPDATED Now Lawsuit & Lawsuit

Department of Human Services Director Richard Matens told WBTV Friday that state officials had visited Union County three times since December, and had randomly selected more than 50 cases dating back three years for review.

Some of those cases were handled by Wanda Sue Larson, the former DSS supervisor who was charged with child abuse after a boy in her care was found handcuffed to her front porch with a dead chicken around his neck.

Matens said the state review, which isn’t yet final, centered on a lack of documentation.

“They believe a lot of things probably did occur but without documentation, they couldn’t verify it,” Matens said. “So that’s an issue. If something happens or something needs looking into, it needs to be written into the charts.”

The Justice For All Coalition, a group that has been calling for an investigation into the system, released a statement on the announcement Friday night.

“We are very happy to hear that the state is taking the severity of poor judgment as well as a poorly unmanaged system that has put our children in harms way in Union County into consideration. The Justice For All Coalition has obtained dozens of emails and documents of valid cases in Union county where the DSS system has failed so many families. We will continue to fight for ALL valid cases of injustice to be reopened in addition to the three mentioned. We still also believe that these cases should be reviewed by an unbiased third party from the federal level, not by the same system that has already failed these families once.”

Matens says he expects the final report from the state to come in the next two or three weeks.’

Harper and Larson, both 58, each face several years in prison if convicted of all charges. Both have pleaded not guilty. Larson’s trial is set for mid-April, unless she makes a plea deal.The case that stunned the region and made international headlines was triggered by a hungry hog.

On Nov. 15, 2013, a Union County sheriff’s deputy responded to a neighbor’s call about a hog from Harper and Larson’s Austin Road home eating her flowers and shrubs. That’s when the deputy encountered an 11-year-old boy, shivering and handcuffed by his ankle to the porch.

Authorities believe Harper tied the dead chicken around the boy’s neck as punishment for killing one of the chickens on the 5-acre farm. More than 100 animals, including donkeys, dogs and geese, were later removed from the property.

Harper was home at the time the boy was discovered, but Larson was at work at her job as a child protective services supervisor at Union County’s Division of Social Services. Larson was soon fired and Harper lost his job as an emergency room nurse at Carolinas Medical Center-Union in Monroe.

Authorities removed the boy and four other children ages 7 to 14 who were living at the home. Larson was legal guardian for the 11-year-old and had adopted the other four. They are under Division of Social Services custody outside of Union County.

Investigators also learned the couple had provided foster care for 36 children over a 12-year period, and worked to determine if the other children were abused or witnessed abuse. No other child abuse charges were filed, however.

‘He’s strong enough now’

The boy’s biological mother, Charlotte resident Maria Harris, wants people to know that her son, now 12, is happy and doing well.

“The next hurdle is testifying. I think he’s strong enough now,” Harris said. “He told me he wanted to.”

She said she sees her son about once a week, and is optimistic he will be returned to her soon. The other children removed from the Harper-Larson home also are well, Harris said; two are her niece and nephew.

“I just want some kind of justice for these kids so they can truly, truly move on when they know (Harper and Larson) are held accountable,” Harris said.

Detailing the charges

In December 2013, Harper and Larson were indicted on multiple charges that included felony child abuse, false imprisonment and maiming.

The indictment detailed alleged abuse the boy suffered between August and November 2013, including being chained to a steel railroad track in his room.

Other allegations in the indictment included: Harper burned the boy near his eye with an electrical wire; Harper cut the boy’s face with a knife, leaving a 2-inch scar; and the boy seriously hurt his wrist trying to escape handcuffs Harper had put on him.

Larson failed to get medical treatment for the boy on those occasions, “showing a reckless disregard for human life,” the indictment stated.

The couple also was indicted on a cruelty to animals charge for allegedly not adequately feeding their basset hound.

And because she was a social services supervisor, Larson was indicted on a charge of willful failure to discharge her duty as a public figure.

In the aftermath of her arrest, Union County requested that the state review the county’s foster care, adoption and child-protection programs. The agency also began an overhaul of its practices. Five DSS workers were fired and a top manager was demoted as the agency worked to change its culture and move toward greater openness, accountability and collaboration.

Glimpse of a ‘different world’

On Friday, Harper’s attorney, Randolph Lee, filed a motion seeking to force prosecutors to detail deals they made with Larson or other potential witness.

Lee also wanted an order to sequester witnesses, another motion stated, “because the state’s case is built in large part upon the probable testimony of children” who lived with Larson and Harper.

Larson was transferred to a Raleigh prison for undisclosed medical reasons last year but is back in Union County Jail, records show. She remains in custody under a $520,000 bond; Harper’s bond is $500,000.

Lee declined to comment on the trial. Larson’s attorney, Bob Leas, could not be reached for comment.

In a brief interview with the Observer in 2003, Larson explained why she wanted to be a foster parent: “The child that comes into your home, their whole world has been turned upside down. You’re something they can hold onto until things are settled.

“We also have a chance to give a child a glimpse of a world that can be different for them.

You may have heard the plea deal was discussed three times last week. I think that’s on the record. It was conferred and discussed a great deal by all the parties,” Harper’s attorney, Randolph Lee, told reporters outside the courthouse.

“My client has exercised his constitutional rights for a jury trial. We’ll see where it goes,” Lee said.

In November 2013, the Union County Sheriff’s Office said a deputy was responding to an animal service complaint at a home on Austin Road and saw the child on the porch. Reports say the boy was found with a dead chicken tied around his neck.

The boy’s ankles were reportedly held to the front porch by handcuffs, and he appeared to be shivering.

After the deputy arrived, Harper came to the porch with another child and released several large dogs on the deputy, according to reports.

Officials believe Harper tied the dead chicken around the boy’s neck as punishment for killing one of the chickens on the family’s farm.

Five children were removed from the home.

Four of the children had been adopted by Harper and Wanda Sue Larson. The 11-year-old found on the porch was their foster child.

Larson was not home when the deputies arrived because she was at work as a supervisor for the Union County Department of Social Services. She was soon fired and charged with willful failure to discharge her duty as a public figure.”

Harper, 58, and Larson were arrested in November 2013 after a sheriff’s deputy found an 11-year-old shackled to their Monroe-area porch with a dead chicken tied around his neck.

Prosecutors will deliver their opening statement Wednesday morning. Lee said he would defer his opening remarks.

It took two days to finish seating a jury of six men, six women and three alternates. Long told them the case probably will take more than a week.

Prosecutors asked potential jurors how they disciplined their children, whether they or anyone they knew was a child abuse victim and whether they were or knew anyone who was adopted or in foster care.

In a rare moment of levity, one potential juror told the court, “I spanked my daughter once. Then she bit me, and I never spanked her again.”

One potential juror was excused Tuesday after he told the judge that while at lunch someone walked by and made profane comments about what jurors should do in the case.

Larson and Harper face charges that include felony child abuse, false imprisonment and maiming for alleged abuse of the boy between August and November 2013.

The boy and four other children living in the home, who were 7 to 14 years old, were placed into social services custody outside of the county. Larson had adopted the other children. The children are expected to testify, as is the deputy who encountered the shackled boy.

Prosecutors told potential jurors that some of their young witnesses might not be able to recall exact dates and times.

Larson, 58, faces a trial in mid-April. Prosecutors have declined to comment whether Larson might get a plea deal.

She was transferred to a Raleigh prison for undisclosed medical reasons last year but was returned to Union County Jail in mid-January. Her appearance has markedly changed since she entered jail, mug shots show; for instance, her hair is noticeably grayer.

Following her arrest, Larson was fired from her county job. Harper also lost his job as an emergency room nurse at a Monroe hospital. Larson remains in custody under $520,000 bail. Harper’s bail is $500,000.”

The November 2013 arrests made international headlines as details of the case quickly emerged.

Larson, 58, was the legal guardian of the boy, then 11. She and her longtime boyfriend, Dorian Harper, were arrested after a Union County sheriff’s deputy came upon the boy by chance while investigating an unrelated call about one of Harper and Larson’s pigs loose in their Monroe-area neighborhood.

Harper’s trial ended in a surprise guilty plea just before opening arguments were to begin in mid-March.

Harper, 58, was sentenced to a minimum of six years and three months, with a maximum of 10 1/2 years in prison. If he had gone ahead with the trial, Harper could have faced a sentence that was twice as long.

There was also a possibility that Larson could have testified against Harper had the case gone to trial.

Robison said the main reason he is agreeing to a plea deal for Larson, as he did for Harper, is because he does not want to “revictimize” the boy by forcing him to testify.

Larson’s case is expected to be heard by Judge Reuben Young in Union County Superior Court.

Bob Leas, Larson’s attorney, could not be reached for comment.

Larson had been the boy’s guardian since he was about 3. She had adopted four other children who were in the home when the couple was arrested; the children ranged in age from 7 to 14. All five have since been placed into social services custody outside of the county.

Several of the children attended Harper’s sentencing hearing. But the boy who was abused by Harper became so upset at listening to the details that he left the courtroom.

Testimony highlighted abuse that included Harper using pliers to twist the boy’s pinkie finger, burning his face with electrical wire and cutting his face with a knife. The boy was chained to a steel railroad track at night in a locked room where Harper didn’t even want him to have a dirty blanket to sleep on.

The boy remained shackled through the day and often bore the brunt of Harper’s anger for any perceived problems in the house, according to testimony at Harper’s sentencing. Larson failed to get the boy medical attention when he was hurt, according to the indictment in the case.

Larson faces charges that include felony child abuse, false imprisonment and maiming over alleged abuse between August and November 2013. Because of her job in the Department of Social Services, Larson also was accused of willful failure to discharge her duty as a public figure.

After their arrests, Larson was fired from her job as a child protective services supervisor, and Harper lost his job as an emergency room nurse at a Monroe hospital.

Last year, Larson was transferred from Union County Jail to a Raleigh prison for undisclosed medical reasons but was sent back to the Monroe jail in mid-January. Her appearance has markedly changed since she entered jail, mug shots show; for instance, her hair is noticeably grayer.

Larson’s arrest led to a review of Union County’s foster care, adoption and child-protection programs.

The agency also began an overhaul of its practices. Five DSS workers were fired, and a top manager was demoted at the agency.

The couple had provided foster care for 36 children over a 12-year period, and authorities worked to determine whether the other children were abused or witnessed abuse. No other child abuse charges were filed, however.”

When the boy’s mother found out he was in foster care, she tried to get him back. But Larson said the boy had developed a bond with her family and he stayed with her. Eventually she became his legal guardian.

The mother only got to see her son a few times a year at a neutral setting, and he said nothing about the abuse.

Meanwhile, the boy says Larson told him his mother was sick and he couldn’t visit her.

‘She’d say, “Your mom is in the hospital. She’s there because of your behavior. You’re killing her,'” he says.

Eventually, Larson and Harper pulled the children out of a Union County school, saying they’d school them at their secluded home where they also kept farm animals.

The boy says he was handcuffed and chained to a steel anvil in his locked room where he slept on the floor.

At times, they’d starve him and he’d have to beg for scraps. Sometime, the other children would sneak food to him and he’d hide the wrappers in a hole in the wall. Many nights, he wasn’t allowed to use the bathroom.

The boy says he was even shackled when he went outside. The only time they removed the chains was when he cleaned the house, or picked up animal feces.

One time, he says Harper cut his left arm and poured salt in the wound. The scar is still visible. It reached a point that every time they entered his room, he’d pray: “I hope I don’t get hurt.”

Then he’d think about his mother, that maybe they’d be reunited. He kept dreaming of escaping, and that kept him going.

A few days before the boy was rescued, Harper blamed him for the death of a chicken and made him wear it around his neck — even at night.

The police were responding to a call about a loose animal when they stumbled on him, chained up on the front porch.

The boy is still recovering. His mother says it will be a long road. Her son goes to therapy twice a week.

He’s in summer camp and public school. Still, there are times he can’t escape. He had a nightmare that Larson came to his house and took him away. He couldn’t find his mother.

‘I woke up and I thought it was real,’ he said. ‘It was just a dream, but I couldn’t go back to sleep.'”

Boy, 13, chained up with a dead chicken around his neck by adoptive parents reveals how they also broke his fingers with pliers and burned his face with electrical wires [Daily Mail 7/2/15 by Associated Press]

Update 11:“A Lexington family court judge on Wednesday allowed a young boy, who had been abused while living in foster care, to be permanently reunited with his biological mother who will have full custody of him.

NBC Charlotte is not naming the mother or the boy, who was 11-years-old when Union County deputies who were investigating an animal complaint, found him handcuffed to a porch with a dead chicken around his neck.

The boy was one of several foster children who had been taken in by Wanda Sue Larson and Dorian Harper.

Larson was a supervisor for the Department of Social Services in Union County. Both she and Harper were arrested.

The boy’s mother said after the judge issued his ruling, “I was shocked, but I’m so happy and I can’t wait for the future.”

She said what happened to her son and the fact that nobody knew the conditions he was living in is why DSS needs to make some serious changes.

“It is time to start thinking about the kids and truly visiting the kids if they are in foster care. They have to have some kind of visitation.”

Wanda Sue Larson pleaded guilty to child abuse and was released from prison earlier this year.

Dorian Harper is still behind bars serving six to 10 years for child abuse.

The boy’s mother says she will celebrate by taking her son and sister out for ice cream.”

Child Found With Dead Chicken Around Neck Reunited With Mother

[WFMV news 2 9/9/15 by Rad Berky]

Update 12:“The boy at the center of the 2013 Wanda Larson child abuse case is now a teenager. He’s 14 years old and living with his biological mother.

“He’s in the seventh grade. His grades are getting better. He’s happier. He has lots of friends. He still has his days. You know ,he has trust issues, but he’s working on it,” his mother told Whistleblower 9’s Paul Boyd.

Wanda Sue Larson, a former Union County Department of Social Services supervisor, and her boyfriend Dorian Lee Harper both pleaded guilty to multiple child abuse charges while caring for the boy in their foster home.

Harper admitted to cutting the boy’s face with a knife, burning him with an electrical wire and handcuffing the boy to the porch with a dead chicken around his neck.

Dorian Harper remains in prison, but Larson is free on parole.

The boy’s mother said he is still terrified of Larson.

“We still struggle at home. Still nightmares. Still worrying about if she’s there,” she said.

Whistleblower 9 has learned that the boy’s family is about to file a civil law suit against Larson. The Channel 9 investigation found that Larson doesn’t have an active legal address for them to serve those court papers.

Channel 9 is asking where Larson is and if she following the conditions of her parole.

Larson’s home in Monroe, where the abuse took place, went through foreclosure last year and is now listed for sale.

Records show her Post Office box in Monroe hasn’t been active for two months.

One source told Whistleblower 9 that Larson shows up to a parole office in Monroe once every month but that’s about all that is known about her whereabouts.

Channel 9 called North Carolina’s Department of Public Safety and were told that Larson remains under its supervision and has no parole violations.

She’s not allowed to have any contact with children under 15 unless supervised.

Officials declined to provide information as to how closely Larson is being monitored.

The victim’s mother said her son believes Larson should still be in jail.

“He doesn’t understand how is it, that she’s out,” the mother said. “He gets so angry that she’s out.”

Mother of boy handcuffed to porch with chicken around neck speaks out[WSOTV 9/1/16 by Paul Boyd]

Update 13:“A boy who was found chained to a front porch with a dead chicken around his neck is suing his former foster parents for years of sickening abuse.

The child was 11 when he was rescued from the squalid home of Wanda Sue Larson, 60, and her boyfriend Dorian Harper, also 60, in North Carolina in November, 2013.

He told investigators how the pair burned his face with electrical wires, broke his fingers with pliers and made him sleep in dirty blankets on the floor of the house that was infested with animal feces.

Now 15, he is suing the couple and Union County officials for placing him in their care.

It’s not clear yet how much the boy, whose identity is being protected, seeks to gain from the lawsuit.

Larson, who blamed the abuse largely on her boyfriend, was released from jail in 2015 for time served while Harper remains behind bars.

Union County Clerk’s Office confirmed documents were submitted on his behalf by a court-appointed guardian on November 14.

The boy was placed into Larson and Harper’s care in 2005. He had been living with an aunt after being separated from his mother as she moved from another state.

Soon after being taken in by the pair, they began abusing him.

They took the boy and other children living at the house out of school under the false promise of teaching them at home.

While all of them were abused, the boy received the worst treatment.

He was handcuffed to a steel anvil in the room where he slept on the floor, removing his shackles only to force him to scrub the floors and walls of the filthy house.

Harper maimed him with needles and burned his face with electrical wires to ‘teach him a lesson,’ the child said at the time.

Days before his rescue, he was blamed by the couple for the death of one of their chickens.

As punishment, Harper made him wear the dead bird slung around his neck on a string.

The child’s mother said she tried to win custody of him back after learning he had been taken away from her family and placed into care in 2005.

Larson however told authorities he had developed a bond with her and argued that he should continue living with her.

The boy said she told him his biological mother was ill in hospital and was not fit enough to look after him. She blamed her condition on the child, he said.

‘She’d say, “Your mom is in the hospital. She’s there because of your behavior. You’re killing her,'” he said in 2015.

Larson, worked for the Department of Social Services. Her boyfriend was an emergency room nurse.

Authorities rescued all of the children, who were all aged seven-14, from the feces infested home in 2013.

Despite the boy’s testimony to police that he feared for his life while in their care, Larson spent just two years behind bars before being released to live in the same county where the boy was being looked after by his biological mother.

She was sentenced to 17 months imprisonment in 2015 after admitting four counts of child abuse but was released for time serviced after her 2013 arrest.

Harper was jailed for 10 and a half years for maiming, intentional child abuse inflicting serious injury and assault with a deadly weapon.

In a rare interview with WBTV after the pair’s jailing last year, the boy said he still had nightmares he would be forced to live with the pair again.

He condemned Larson’s release, telling the network: ‘She abused me too and she knew Dorian was abusing me.’

There was no response from Union County on Tuesday when contacted. The Department of Social Services is also named in the lawsuit.”

Boy, 15, who was found chained to front porch with a dead chicken tied around his neck sues his abusive foster parents who tortured him with wires and broke his fingers with pliers

[Daily Mail 12/6/16 by Jennifer Smith]

Update 14:“At least two children have said they were sexually abused while living with then-Union County DSS supervisor Wanda Sue Larson and her boyfriend Dorian Harper.

The claims, which were first mentioned by the children immediately after they were rescued from the Larson home and reiterated in greater detail in late 2015, include allegations that one DSS worker called “sadistic and horrific.”

WBTV first learned of the allegations in an exclusive interview in May 2015 with the boy who was found with the dead chicken around his neck, who we refer to as Michael.

“Dorian used to do sexual stuff to me,” the boy said at the time. “(Wanda Sue) abused me too and she knew Dorian was abusing me, too. She didn’t stop it. She just added on to it.”

Since the boy’s interview with WBTV, therapists and counselors have worked with Michael to uncover more details of what he and other children who were in the Larson home allege happened to them.

The act of a child reporting an act of physical or sexual abuse to a therapist or caseworker is known in the social work field as a ‘disclosure’. Once a disclosure is made by a child, the alleged abuse is required to be reported to the proper authorities and investigated.

As more time passes and the children receive more counseling and therapy, more details of the alleged abuse comes to light. But that hasn’t been enough to bring the allegations to court.

Both Larson and Harper have pleaded guilty to felony child abuse charges but neither have faced criminal charges related to the sexual assault allegations.

Details of sexual abuse shared during therapy

Michael disclosed specific details of sexual abuse he said he suffered at the hands of Harper and Larson to his therapist more than two years ago.

The therapist, with the boy’s permission, shared the details of his account with his mother. His mother recorded the conversation, in which she is heard audibly reacting to the gruesome details of what her son said he was subjected to.

The details are graphic.

“He (Dorian Harper) made him touch him and he touched (Michael),” the therapist told the boy’s mother. “He would inject their penises with growth hormones.”

The boy’s mother is heard gasping in shock as the therapist shares the details.

“He would line up all the boys in a row and he’d watch as he inserted the syringe and watch their penises grown,” the therapist said.

Even as the therapist shared some graphic details of what the children said happened inside the home, there are other details she acknowledged counselors and authorities may never learn.

The therapist told Michael’s mother that Harper sedated some of the children and that some of the children were unable to recall what happened to them.

“From our understanding, there was a lot of – in their bedroom, they had a lot of porn and they would make the kids watch it and they would be in the room with them,” the therapist said.

That conversation between Michael’s mother and the boy’s therapist happened in the summer of 2015. At the time, the therapist said she and other counselors were working to put the information together to present to the Union County Sheriff’s Office, according to a recording of the conversation obtained by WBTV.

Multiple children make detailed disclosure

The children taken from Larson’s home were re-interviewed by forensic therapists at a facility in Davidson County in late 2015, WBTV has confirmed, roughly two years after the children were rescued.

Documents obtained by WBTV show the new round of interviews were prompted by a child other than Michael making a new, detailed allegation of sexual abuse.

“One of the children is now admitting that there was more abuse in other forms,” a Davidson County DSS worker wrote in an email to Michael’s mom explaining why the new round of forensic interviews were necessary.

In that same email, the DSS worker said detectives with the Union County Sheriff’s Office and a representative of the Union County District Attorney’s Office would be on hand to view the interviews.

The DSS worker said the new interviews could result in charges for Larson and Harper related to sexual abuse.

“If any of these children disclose what was reported in this new report, there remains the possibility that Ms. Larson and Mr Harper (sic) may face additional criminal charges which could extend Mr Harper’s incarceration and lead to additional criminal charges against Ms. Larson,” the DSS worker wrote.

A month later, after the children were interviewed, the same DSS worker emailed Michael’s mother again, calling the abuse her son had suffered “sadistic and horrific.”

He also said Michael reported more details about the sexual abuse.

“He provided more information regarding these recent allegations than any of the other children who came that day,” the DSS worker wrote.

Mother waiting for justice

Michael’s mother said she has run out of patience for the Sheriff and prosecutors to bring charges related to the allegations made by her son and the other children.

“I haven’t heard anything after that about what happened with those allegations,” she said in a recent interview with WBTV. “You know, it’s time to hold them accountable.”

WBTV has confirmed that detectives and a prosecutor were present for the forensic interviews in which multiple children reported they suffered sexual abuse at the hands of Harper and Larson. But it is not clear that the Union County Sheriff’s Office has conducted an investigation beyond that.

A spokesman for Sheriff Eddie Cathey did not respond to an interview request. An attorney for UCSO provided information showing the sexual abuse allegations had been reported to the department but refused to provide the front page of a police report—typically provided by law enforcement agencies across North Carolina—that would show when the Sheriff’s Office began investigating the claims.

The Sheriff’s Office is the only agency tasked with investigating the claims. The Union County District Attorney’s Office does not employ any investigators and law enforcement in Davidson County doesn’t have jurisdiction over the matter since the allegations involve activity that reportedly took place in Union County.

Cathey, the Union County Sheriff, told Michael’s mother that none of the children had made any detailed allegations in a conversation she recorded in July 2015, the same time period where her son’s therapist detailed the sexual abuse for her.

“We don’t have anybody that says, you know, he did it to me, she did it to me or it was done to me,” Cathey said in the July 2015 conversation, according to the recording obtained by WBTV.

Union County District Attorney Trey Robison did not dismiss the possibility of new charges related to the allegations of sexual abuse in a recent interview with WBTV.

“I can tell you that if we are presented with specific, credible and admissible evidence, that we would be motivated to pursue any charges, wherever they may lead,” Robison said.

Robison said the allegations, if true, are very serious.

But, so far, the veteran prosecutor said, his office has not received enough evidence from investigators that would make a solid, air-tight case upon which to bring charges.

“We are entirely driven by whatever the evidence is that’s produced during an investigation,” Robison, who relies on evidence obtained by the Sheriff’s Office, said. “The appropriateness of any given prosecution is going to depend entirely on what the evidence is.”

There is no statute of limitations for felony crimes—including sexual abuse—in North Carolina, meaning Robison could bring new charges against Harper and Larson if or when they felt they had enough evidence to make them stick in court.

“I would say the possibility remains open for future charges. It is not uncommon, particularly with children, to make delayed disclosures as children mature, as children benefit from therapeutic treatment, that sort of thing. It’s not uncommon at all,” he said.

‘Wanda Sue is out and about free while my son is struggling’

As Robison waits to see whether there is enough evidence to bring new charges related to the sexual abuse allegations, Michael’s mom said her son is suffering.

“It’s something that they’re always going to struggle with. Meanwhile, you know, Wanda Sue is out and about, free, living her life while my son’s over here struggling,” she said. “It’s not fair.”

WBTV was able to track Larson down to a home on a secluded lot in rural Union County. She declined to speak with a reporter who visited her home and asked for an interview to discuss questions about how she treated her foster children.

Michael’s mother hopes the renewed attention on her son’s case and the revelation of the sexual assault allegations will bring justice for her son.

“Hopefully this helps in some type of way, you know?” she asked. “Mr. Cathey will get off his butt, you know, and pursue charges like you would anybody else!”?”

Foster children allege sexual abuse in Larson, Harper home

[Charlotte Observer 5/16/17 by Nick Ochsner]

Update 15:“A new federal lawsuit claims officials at Union County Department of Social Services and the Gaston County Department of Social Services are responsible for abuse suffered by a boy who was found chained to a porch with a dead chicken around his neck at the home of Wanda Sue Larson in November 2013.

Larson, who was a supervisor with Union County DSS at the time of her arrest, was the foster parent of the boy. Both Larson and her longtime, live-in boyfriend Dorian Harper have pleaded guilty to criminal charges stemming from abuse suffered by the boy found chained to the porch and other children who lived in the home.

WBTV has previously reported details about claims of physical and sexual abuse suffered by the children.

“Well, sometimes they just used their hands. Sometimes they’d throw other things. Sometimes they’d just, you know, throw me. Or slam me to the ground,” the boy told WBTV reporter Pam Escobar in an exclusive interview in 2015.

The boy, who WBTV has not identified because of the abuse he suffered and because he is a minor, has also previously disclosed sexual abuse while in Larson’s care.

Specifically, the disclosure of sexual abuse was made to a therapist nearly four years ago.

The therapist, with the boy’s permission, shared the details of his account with his mother. His mother recorded the conversation, in which she is heard audibly reacting to the gruesome details of what her son said he was subjected to.

The details are graphic.

“He (Dorian Harper) made him touch him and he touched (the boy),” the therapist told the boy’s mother. “He would inject their penises with growth hormones.”

In the new federal lawsuit filed on Tuesday, attorneys who represent a guardian ad litem acting on the boy’s behalf claim the both Union County DSS and Gaston County DSS could have acted sooner to uncover and stop the abuse.

“The factual support for the plaintiff’s claims in part comes from the multiple, missed opportunities that the defendants had to discover the abuse and neglect of children in the Larson-Harper Foster Home, including J.G., when reports of abuse or neglect were made while Defendant Gaston County was overseeing the licensing of the Larson-Harper Foster Home and while Defendant Gaston County and then Defendant Union County were responsible for investigating claims of abuse or neglect of children in the Larson-Harper foster Home,” the lawsuit says.

The complaint then includes a list of five specific instances where complaints were made to the DSS agencies but ignored.

The lawsuit alleges that Larson used her position as a supervisor at Union County DSS to manipulate the foster care system in order to maintain custody of the boy and, later, to quash an investigation into the boy’s care.

“Upon information and belief, Defendant Larson used her connection, friendships and associations with UCDSS to manipulate the investigation by Mecklenburg County DSS,” the complaint says of a forensic evaluation Union County DSS asked Mecklenburg County DSS into the agency’s handling of Larson’s foster care case.

The complaint also says a “same-day, internal decision within Defendant Larson’s CPS unit was made not to open an investigation” into a report of potential child abuse or neglect reported by a Union County Sheriff’s Deputy at Larson’s home in December 2012.

Emails to spokesmen for both Union County DSS and Gaston County DSS after hours on Tuesday went unreturned at press time.”

New lawsuit claims Union Co., Gaston Co. DSS negligent in Wanda Sue Larson abuse case

[WBTV 4/2/19 by Nick Ochnser]

Update 16:“North Carolina will pay three former Union County foster children $ 1 million, including a man who was chained to his porch at the age of 11 with a dead chicken tied around his neck.

Larson’s longtime male partner Dorian Harper, then an emergency room nurse at what is now Atrium Health, has served five years in prison. Larson has pleaded guilty to a related charge but has not served any jail time, according to public records.

In total, three children who were in the couple’s care will receive the money, which will be paid by the NC Industrial Commission into a protective trust, said Durham Region attorney Jay Trehy, who helped represent the victims. All three live in North Carolina and are between 19 and 22 years old.”

Ex-foster child who had dead chicken strapped to neck, two more get $ 1 million from NC
[Good Word News 7/1/21 by Michael Gordon]