MONROE, N.C. (AP) - A judge is appointing an attorney to represent a North Carolina man charged after an 11-year-old boy was found handcuffed to a porch with a dead chicken tied to his neck.
Dorian Harper told a judge Monday that he didn’t have money for an attorney because he was fired as an emergency room nurse after his arrest.
A hearing for Harper’s girlfriend, Wanda Sue Larson, who is facing similar child abuse charges, was postponed until Tuesday.
People were interested in these podcasts
Larson and Harper, both 57, were arrested in November after a Union County sheriff’s deputy found the boy on the porch. The couple now faces a 21-count indictment that spells out the abuse that investigators say occurred in their home between August and November.
The couple had guardianship of the boy.
Larson, a former child-protection investigations supervisor with the county Department of Social Services, is also indicted for failing to report the abuse.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.