http://www.wbtv.com/story/28721966/protesters-are-frustrated-with-child-abuse-sentencing

Boy Chained To Porch, Dead Chicken Around His Neck

UNION COUNTY, NC (WBTV) – More than 50 people protested Saturday against a former Union County DSS supervisor’s plea deal. Demonstrators said her punishment doesn’t fit the crime.

The protesters say they are angry because Wanda Larson is scheduled to get out of jail just days after she pleaded guilty to child abuse charges.

Tuesday, Larson entered a plea on two felony counts and two misdemeanor counts in a Union County court. She admitted to her role in shackling an 11-year-old boy to a porch with a dead chicken around his neck.

A judge ruled that the majority of her 17-month sentencing was already served. She also received five years of probation for the other felony.

People like Jeff Gerber of the Justice For All Coalition marched outside of the Monroe County courthouse to voice their outrage.

“We strongly oppose the decision of the Union county district attorney to not only avoid trial, avoid putting these five children on the stand, but to offer a golden parachute of a plea deal to Ms. Larson in the first place,” said Gerber. “These children deserve justice.”

Larson and her boyfriend, Dorian Harper, were foster parents to a total of five children. Authorities say all the children were abused.
Harper who also accepted a plea deal was sentenced to six to ten years of jail time for child abuse and maiming.

Larson has already spent more than 500 days in jail, because of that time served Larson could be out of jail as soon as next week.

Before Larson’s arrest, her job was to protect children. She was a Union County Department of Social Services for more than a decade.