State v. Harris, 236 N.C. App. 388 (Sept. 16, 2014)

(1) Following, State v. Stevens, 228 N.C. App. 352 (2013), the court held that the offense of contributing to a juvenile’s being delinquent, undisciplined, abused or neglected (G.S. 14-316.1) does not require the defendant to be the juvenile’s parent, guardian, custodian, or caretaker; the defendant need only be a person who causes a juvenile to be in a place or condition where the juvenile does not receive proper care from a caretaker or is not provided necessary medical care. (2) The evidence was sufficient to show that the defendant placed the child in a position in which she could be found to be abused or neglected. The defendant entered the child’s bedroom when she was trying to sleep, tried to get her to drink alcohol, squeezed her buttocks, asked her to suck his thumb and asked to suck her chest. (3) Although the trial court’s jury instructions on the G.S. 14-316.1 charge were erroneous, the error did not rise to the level of plain error.