Ex-guardian of boy shackled to porch to be released from jail

UNION COUNTY, N.C. — A former Union County social worker will be walking out of jail in a matter of days after she was sentenced up to 17 months for allowing a foster child to be severely abused while in her custody.
 
Wanda Larson pleaded guilty to failing to carry out her duties as a social worker in court Tuesday and apologized to the children she was responsible for. On Wednesday morning, Union County Sheriff Eddie Cathey was notified by the Department of Adult Corrections that Larson could be released April 8.
 
Larson has spent 507 days in jail since she was arrested in November 2013. Cathey said those days will be credited toward her sentence.
 
Larson's neighbor Jimmy Bigham can remember the day Larson and her live-in boyfriend were arrested.
 
His wife's aunt had called a deputy to come out to her home on Austin Road to get rid of a loose pig. The deputy chased the pig through the woods to Larson's home, where he found an 11-year-old boy handcuffed to the front porch of his neighbor's house with a dead chicken tied to his neck.
 
"That little pig saved that boy's life," said Bigham.
 
Larson and Harper were the boy's foster parents. Harper pleaded guilty to child abuse last week and was sentenced to six to seven years behind bars.
 
In court, it was revealed the boy suffered extensive abuse, including a broken wrist, infected hand from his nails being ripped out. He was also forced to sleep on the floor tied to a railroad tie.
 
The other four children who were in Larson, and Harper's care told investigators Larson wasn't around to see much of it and Harper was the abuser.
 
Bigham still holds Larson accountable and hopes when she leaves jail she doesn't try to come back home.
 
"All these people around here know how she is and despise the ground she walks on. She wouldn't stand a chance down here as far as people being sympathetic to her," said Bigham.
 
The home where the abuse happened has been turned over to a credit union.
 
When Larson is released from jail, she will start 5 1/2 years of probation.

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