11 year old boy found handcuffed to porch with dead chicken around his neck

[MuffyBee]

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/11/15/4470329/child-found-handcuffed-to-porch.html
Child found handcuffed to porch with dead chicken around his neck
November 15, 2013

A Union County social worker was one of two adults charged with intentional child abuse Friday after deputies found a child handcuffed to a porch with a dead chicken around his neck.

Dorian Lee Harper and Wanda Sue Larson, both 57, have been charged with numerous offenses after a deputy discovered the child at 4116 Austin Road, south of Monroe, authorities said.

Larson is employed as a supervisor with Union County Department of Social Services. She and Harper had adopted four children and were serving as foster parents for a fifth child, officials said.
 
A deputy was responding to an animal services complaint at a neighboring home Friday when he walked up to Harper’s and Larson’s residence and saw a “10-12-year-old child secured to the front porch at the ankle, by what appeared to be a pair of handcuffs,” officials said.

“The child also had a dead chicken hanging around his neck and appeared to be shivering,” the Sheriff’s Office said.

Moments later a man appeared on the porch, and asked the deputy why he was there. The deputy asked for the man’s identification and why the child was handcuffed to the porch, officials said.

“The man produced a driver’s license, but then a child at the residence opened a door to the house releasing several large dogs that then accosted the officer,” the Sheriff’s Office said.

The deputy got in his vehicle and by the time the dogs were secured, “the man had removed the child from the porch and left the dead chicken on a barrel on the porch,” authorities said.

When backup arrived, deputies entered and searched the home and found five children, ages 8, 9, 11, 13 and 14, the Sheriff’s Office said. The children were removed from the home. Officers then began a criminal investigation, and the man was taken into custody at the scene.

Harper and Larson have both been charged with intentional child abuse inflicting serious injury, false imprisonment and cruelty to animals, authorities said.

Larson was not present when the children were discovered but is accused of being complicit in the ongoing mistreatment of the children, the Sheriff’s Office said. She was also charged with willful failure to discharge her duty as a public official.

The child handcuffed to the porch is the 11-year-old Harper and Larson had been fostering, authorities said. The children are now in custody of an undisclosed social services agency outside Union County.

Harper is being held under a $500,000 bond. Larson’s bond was set at $525,000. Both are being held at the Union County jail and are scheduled to appear in court on Monday.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/17/boy-found-dead-chicken/3618127/
Boy found with dead chicken around neck; parents jailed
November 17, 2013

A social services supervisor and a nurse face child abuse charges after an 11-year-old North Carolina boy was found handcuffed to a porch, shivering, with a dead chicken around his neck, Union County authorities say.

Sheriff Eddie Cathey told USA TODAY the child was discovered Friday in frigid temperatures after neighbors complained about animals running loose at the home outside Monroe. Cathey said a deputy began interviewing Dorian Lee Harper, an emergency room nurse and the boy's foster parent, about the boy when another child opened the door and released several dogs that chased the deputy away.

More deputies arrived and searched the home, finding five children, ages 14, 13, 11, 9 and 8. Harper and Wanda Sue Larson, both 57, had adopted four of the children and had been fostering the fifth, the child handcuffed to the porch, Cathey said.

Larson is a supervisor with the Union County Department of Social Services. Cathey said his deputies had a good working relationship with Larson -- and that both suspects were well-respected in their professions.

"It's shocking to see how they lived," Cathey said. "The conditions were horrible. Trash, filth, animals and animal waste inside and outside the home. You could barely breath inside that house."

All the children were taken into custody by a social services department from a neighboring county, Cathey said. Both parents are charged with intentional child abuse, inflicting serious injury, false imprisonment and cruelty to animals. Larson also is charged with willful failure to discharge her duty as a public official.

Harper's bail was set to $500,000, Larson's at $525,000. Both face hearings Monday.

"This investigation has only just begun," Cathey said. "We are fortunate that we were called. Sooner or later this situation could have ended in a child's death."

[Green Eyes]

Where are these people coming from? So happy that the children have been taken out of the home. 

[MuffyBee]

I have never understood how anyone could or would do anything like what has been done to this boy, it's so bad.   I'm at a total loss of why a social services supervisor and an ER nurse would do this.   

This couple should be fired from their jobs and never have custody or care of any children again.  Lock 'em up and throw away the key.  Screw the plea bargaining, screw community service and fines.  There's nothing on this Earth that can begin to justify what they've done to the boy.  I would expect two adults with their knowledge/education & work experience and ETHICS to know better than the average person.  Their punishment should reflect that and be held to a higher standard.  They may have had a good working relationship with the deputies and well-respected in their professions, but how was it the children lived in such filth no one knew?   

[Amys Sister]

I have never understood how anyone could or would do anything like what has been done to this boy, it's so bad.   I'm at a total loss of why a social services supervisor and an ER nurse would do this.   

This couple should be fired from their jobs and never have custody or care of any children again.  Lock 'em up and throw away the key.  Screw the plea bargaining, screw community service and fines.  There's nothing on this Earth that can begin to justify what they've done to the boy.  I would expect two adults with their knowledge/education & work experience and ETHICS to know better than the average person.  Their punishment should reflect that and be held to a higher standard.  They may have had a good working relationship with the deputies and well-respected in their professions, but how was it the children lived in such filth no one knew?   

I know!  The psychological ability to maintain two such differing faces and hearts is amazing.  Usually people who are this twisted are understood to be off or strange.  To be able to maintain a public persona so different than the evil you are requires a certain kind of special.  The steps they had to have taken to hide their inner and outer filth and stank.

I do wonder how many people she supervised or how many patient's in his care are now having their inner 'hmmm' substantiated.

It's the pain these kids endured that is hard to think about.  I wish them all the love and support and kindness the community is able to give them.  May God be with the children all of their remaining days in ways that will help them heal and be whole again.

 

[Green Eyes]

I have never understood how anyone could or would do anything like what has been done to this boy, it's so bad.   I'm at a total loss of why a social services supervisor and an ER nurse would do this.   

This couple should be fired from their jobs and never have custody or care of any children again.  Lock 'em up and throw away the key.  Screw the plea bargaining, screw community service and fines.  There's nothing on this Earth that can begin to justify what they've done to the boy.  I would expect two adults with their knowledge/education & work experience and ETHICS to know better than the average person.  Their punishment should reflect that and be held to a higher standard.  They may have had a good working relationship with the deputies and well-respected in their professions, but how was it the children lived in such filth no one knew?   

I agree Muffy they need to thrown in jail and let them rot. 

[Green Eyes]

I have never understood how anyone could or would do anything like what has been done to this boy, it's so bad.   I'm at a total loss of why a social services supervisor and an ER nurse would do this.   

This couple should be fired from their jobs and never have custody or care of any children again.  Lock 'em up and throw away the key.  Screw the plea bargaining, screw community service and fines.  There's nothing on this Earth that can begin to justify what they've done to the boy.  I would expect two adults with their knowledge/education & work experience and ETHICS to know better than the average person.  Their punishment should reflect that and be held to a higher standard.  They may have had a good working relationship with the deputies and well-respected in their professions, but how was it the children lived in such filth no one knew?   

I know!  The psychological ability to maintain two such differing faces and hearts is amazing.  Usually people who are this twisted are understood to be off or strange.  To be able to maintain a public persona so different than the evil you are requires a certain kind of special.  The steps they had to have taken to hide their inner and outer filth and stank.

I do wonder how many people she supervised or how many patient's in his care are now having their inner 'hmmm' substantiated.

It's the pain these kids endured that is hard to think about.  I wish them all the love and support and kindness the community is able to give them.  May God be with the children all of their remaining days in ways that will help them heal and be whole again.

 

Amys Sister People like this make it hard for the good people who truly car about children.  I hope the children get the support they need to be able to live a healthy life with true love and caring. 

[Amys Sister]

I have never understood how anyone could or would do anything like what has been done to this boy, it's so bad.   I'm at a total loss of why a social services supervisor and an ER nurse would do this.   

This couple should be fired from their jobs and never have custody or care of any children again.  Lock 'em up and throw away the key.  Screw the plea bargaining, screw community service and fines.  There's nothing on this Earth that can begin to justify what they've done to the boy.  I would expect two adults with their knowledge/education & work experience and ETHICS to know better than the average person.  Their punishment should reflect that and be held to a higher standard.  They may have had a good working relationship with the deputies and well-respected in their professions, but how was it the children lived in such filth no one knew?   

I know!  The psychological ability to maintain two such differing faces and hearts is amazing.  Usually people who are this twisted are understood to be off or strange.  To be able to maintain a public persona so different than the evil you are requires a certain kind of special.  The steps they had to have taken to hide their inner and outer filth and stank.

I do wonder how many people she supervised or how many patient's in his care are now having their inner 'hmmm' substantiated.

It's the pain these kids endured that is hard to think about.  I wish them all the love and support and kindness the community is able to give them.  May God be with the children all of their remaining days in ways that will help them heal and be whole again.

 

Amys Sister People like this make it hard for the good people who truly car about children.  I hope the children get the support they need to be able to live a healthy life with true love and caring. 

 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.wcnc.com/news/crime/Police-Boy-found-handcuffed-to-house-with-dead-chicken-around-neck-232149571.html
DSS supervisor, ER nurse charged in abuse of boy, 11
November 17, 2013

MONROE, N.C. -- A Union County couple remained in jail Saturday night under more than a million dollars combined bond, charged with child abuse after a deputy found their 11-year-old foster child handcuffed to the porch with a dead chicken tied around his neck.
 
Police removed five children, ages 14, 13, 11, 9 and 8, from the home, and began a criminal investigation. They took Harper into custody at the scene.  The children are in the custody of Social Services in another county.
Carolina's Healthcare System confirmed Saturday that Harper is an RN in the CMC Union emergency room. He has been placed on administrative leave.
Officers booked both suspects into the Union County Jail. Harper is being held under a $500,000 secured bond. Larson’s bond is set at $525,000.
Union County Sheriff Eddie Cathey called the incident shocking.
“I can assure you that we have only just begun our investigation into what has happened, and we will pursue it to its fullest extent,” he said.
Saturday afternoon, neighbors reacted to the arrests.
“That's some sick people,” said Harry Wallace, who lives across the street. “Sick and ungodly bunch.”
Gene Wallace, who lives at the same house, was shocked to hear his neighbor was a DSS supervisor charged with such a serious crime.
“It was beyond surprise,” he said. “Makes you wonder what our county officials do in their spare time.”
He wonders why no one checked in on the children – even if their adoptive mother is a DSS supervisor.
“Anyone who takes children should be supervised,” he said.  “I don't care who it is.”
Gene Wallace said the family was reclusive, living at the end of a long gravel driveway with a variety of animals.
“Pigs, donkeys, llamas.. the whole gamut,” he said.  “If we complain about their animals being on our property they get mad or they won't come to the door when you go over there.”
Harper and Larson face a court date on Monday.
 

[cadillac]

 

Unbelievable this occurred right under our nose.

Prayers for those children that they may find healing.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.wcnc.com/news/crime/Police-Boy-found-handcuffed-to-house-with-dead-chicken-around-neck-232149571.html?gallery=y&img=1&c=y

Photo gallery with 15 images.

[seahorse]

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/11/18/4476847/couple-appears-in-court-after.html#.UovEXSdYKrw


Union County calls on state for probe of handcuffed child case
By Michael Gordon
mgordon@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2013
   
 Wanda Sue Larson, left, and Dorian Lee Harper (I did not post photo's)

 Arrests in abuse case stun neighbors
 Child found handcuffed to porch

 

MONROE Union County officials have called for a state investigation into charges against a county child-abuse supervisor and her boyfriend after their foster son was found chained to their front porch, a dead chicken tied to his neck.


http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/11/18/4476847/couple-appears-in-court-after.html#.UovF-idYKrx

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/11/18/4476847/couple-appears-in-court-after.html#.UovEXSdYKrw#storylink=cpy

[MuffyBee]

There's already an existing thread on this awful crime.  Hopefully Klaas or one of our mods will see it and merge the two.   

http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=14857.0
11 year old boy found handcuffed to porch with dead chicken around his neck

[seahorse]

Thank-you!

 

Sorry, Muffy I looked all over the place.  I guess I need CW618's specs 

[seahorse]

I have never understood how anyone could or would do anything like what has been done to this boy, it's so bad.   I'm at a total loss of why a social services supervisor and an ER nurse would do this.   

This couple should be fired from their jobs and never have custody or care of any children again.  Lock 'em up and throw away the key.  Screw the plea bargaining, screw community service and fines.  There's nothing on this Earth that can begin to justify what they've done to the boy.  I would expect two adults with their knowledge/education & work experience and ETHICS to know better than the average person.  Their punishment should reflect that and be held to a higher standard.  They may have had a good working relationship with the deputies and well-respected in their professions, but how was it the children lived in such filth no one knew?   

Muffy,  I don't know either.

I do know a foster child (my pal) across the street from where I lived (1958), she took two cookies and her foster mother punished her to sleep under the porch   She later died, of a blood ailment.  Her little brother was treated cruelly according to my foster mother, who informed me recently, I save her email.  My foster mum, actually, said, "someday I will tell you how cruel (Ant) was to her little brother" I knew she knew of the little girl slept under the porch, it bothered her years later.  I was two years older than my little pal. She was six and I was eight or nine.

[seahorse]

This is the email my foster mum sent me.  She knew my little pal's younger brother was abused and did nothing about it.
Why? I would say because she was looking out for number one (herself).

This my former foster mum's response when I brought up the subject of the child sleeping under the porch.
See people do know and will not come forward.  My foster mum, attended Mass, every Sunday, devote Catholic and yet
she did not try to save my little pal or her little brother, from cruel punishment, IMO.

Foster Mum

i remembered her name last nite after i shut down the comp.  it was Nancy.  and Ann Ant was a real witch to those kids.   u won't believe how cruel she was to the little boy.  some day i will tell u.  but tell u what the Lord made her pay for it.  her oldest daughter died when she was about 20 years old,  and when she got older her younger daughter  did not want her at home she put her in a county nursing home.  She took over her mom's home and i believe she still lives there.
 
i don't know if sleeping under the porch was a death sentence for Nancy  but dear God how i hurt for those kids.

She knew and did nothing!
 

[MuffyBee]

So very, very sad Seahorse.    

[seahorse]

So very, very sad Seahorse.    

Thank-you, Muffy, for your empathy for my long suffering pal, who lived for a short time across the street.

I still remember my little pal, she was Italian with a pixy hair cut. I am going to find out her last name.
I want to look up her little brother (who I never met), and find out if he lived.

The foster sister, still lives in the same house on Columbia Avenue, Swissvale.

Her foster sisters, would wear her new patent leather shoes, she wasn't able to wear the shoes issued her her through the court.

I think of her almost everyday, and wonder if she took two cookies, one for me and one for her?

 

[MuffyBee]

Thank-you!

 

Sorry, Muffy I looked all over the place.  I guess I need CW618's specs 

No big.     I'm glad to see you start threads for cases.      Every now and then there can be a duplicate, and I've done that myself more than once.  What can cause confusion too is if there is more than one category a case can fit in and even CW's specs won't help that.     

[Nut44x4]

There's already an existing thread on this awful crime.  Hopefully Klaas or one of our mods will see it and merge the two.   

http://scaredmonkeys.net/index.php?topic=14857.0
11 year old boy found handcuffed to porch with dead chicken around his neck

TY TY -- I do not have my merge button anymore so perhaps Muffy could email Klass with this info