Bend man sentenced for ‘outrageous’ abuse

Two years after throwing his 2-month-old daughter across a room, causing severe injuries, a Bend man was sentenced Tuesday to over eight years in prison.

Deschutes County Circuit Judge Michael Adler called it one of the worst child abuse cases he’s seen in his career.

Larry Dean Wright Jr. met his girlfriend in the summer of 2011 at the Bethlehem Inn when he was 26 and she was only 17. Shortly after their relationship started, she became pregnant — and the abuse followed quickly.

“He would call her names, he would spit on her, he would strike her,” said Deputy District Attorney Andrew Moore. “There were multiple 911 calls to their home.”

Their baby daughter was born in May of 2012. Only two short months later, on July 23rd, the baby ended up in the emergency room with a severely broken arm.

“Mr. Wright said he grabbed her by the arm, lifted her up, swatted her on the butt, and threw her on the bed because he was frustrated with her crying,” Moore said.

Doctors didn’t have the equipment to make a cast small enough for the infant, so they used things like tongue depressors and a bandage as a makeshift cast. They decided to perform additional X-rays, which showed multiple broken bones One was a lateral break on both sides of her ribs, implying Wright was aggressively squeezing and shaking her.

“This is one of the most outrageous cases of child abuse that I’ve seen,” Adler said as he pronounced sentence.

Wright told Adler he wants to get his life back on track, but was worried about running out of time.

“Eight years from now it might be too late,” Wright said. “I’m just hoping for the opportunity to better myself, and be with my family.”

Despite his plea, Wright was sentenced to 102 months in prison, which Adler said should be considered lenient for the abuse that occurred.

Wright also is required to take anger management classes upon his release. His daughter, meanwhile, is now in foster care and said to be doing well.