North Carolina To Pay $1M To Boy Found Handcuffed With Dead Chicken Around His Neck

North Carolina has agreed to pay $1 million to settle the lawsuit filed by a boy who was found chained to a porch with a dead chicken around his neck at a foster home in 2013, said the victim's attorney.

The boy, identified as Juan Garcia, was the foster child of Wanda Sue Larson, a supervisor with the Union County Department of Social Services. He was 11 years old when the incident happened. Larson and her partner, Dorian Harper, were found guilty of child abuse charges in 2015, reported ABC-affiliated WSOC-TV.

Jay Trehy, the victim's attorney, said the boy signed an agreement last month with the state to settle the lawsuit, which claimed that the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services failed to protect him and four other children from abuse and neglect. A special fund will be set up to make payments to the victim.

In November 2013, a deputy, who was responding to another complaint, found the child handcuffed to the porch railing. The boy was shivering and had a dead chicken around his neck. Immediately, a man appeared on the porch and unleashed several dogs that chased the deputy back to his patrol car. The man then removed the handcuff from the child before putting the chicken on a barrel.

Larson and Harper were arrested and charged with abuse. According to the indictment, Harper had cut the boy's face with a knife and used an electric wire to burn him. The boy once broke his wrist trying to escape. Both pleaded guilty to the charges.

On Thursday, Garcia, who is 19 years old now, spoke to WBTV about the abuses he faced from the couple. He wants Larson and Harper to be prosecuted for the sexual abuse he and the four other children suffered in the home.

"It's not about the money, it about looking them in the eyes and telling them what they've done to me," Garcia told WBTV.

Trehy said proper medical care and psychiatric support helped Garcia recover after the abuse. The 19-year-old man is now working in a firm and his family is hopeful that the settlement will help him live a normal life after a terrible childhood.

"He's going to try to be a normal kid and a normal person, but he's got much to overcome," Trehy said. "You know, he's back with people who love him, and that was missing for his entire life almost."

"I'm doing way better than I was," Garcia said. "I'm glad that sometimes I look back and I, just, I'm thankful for where I'm at today," he added.