Wealthy Couple Taken Into Custody After Forcing Their 5 Adopted Children To Be Their Slaves And Locking Them Up In Barn
A rich white couple is facing charges after forcing their adopted Black children to be their slaves and sleep in a barn.
On Tuesday, Donald Ray Lantz, 63, and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 62, pled not guilty to over 12 new charges. This comes after two teens were discovered in a filthy shed, in ratty attire.
Back in October, they were first appehened after a welfare check resulted in the discovery of their 5 adopted children, ages 6 to 16. They had been living in horrific conditions in the city of Sissonville.
Neighbors had contacted authorities after witnessing the children being forced to work on the couple’s farmland. They also weren’t allowed in the home. All of this was because of their race.
Authorities say that when they initially did the welfare check, two teens were locked in a shed with no lights or running water. One of them told police that he had been in the shed for 12 hours and that was the last time he had eaten. They also had no mattresses, so they had to sleep on the concrete floor.
When police questioned Whitefeather, she told them that the boys liked being in the shed and considered it a ‘clubhouse.’
The children told authorities that they were being abused at their home in West Virginia and in Washington state. It is believe that the couple moved from Washington State to West Virginia when they found out that they were being investigated for child abuse and neglect.
The couple’s bond was raised after prosecutors said that their initial cash bonds were received through trafficking profits. They were able to pay $400,000 for their bond back in February.
Prosecutors noted that the couple sold an 80-acre ranch in Washington for $725,000.
On March 28, they sold the home that they were arrested in for $295,000. Now, prosecutors want the funds to be transferred from the custody of the state to a trust for the children.
Lantz and Whitefeather were placed back in custody when both of their bonds were set at $500,000 each.
They have been charged with human trafficking of a minor child, use of a minor child in forced labor, and child neglect creating substantial risk of serious bodily injury or death.
