A rich white couple from West Virginia find themselves in a lot of hot water after being accused of having their black children as slaves and making them sleep outside.
A second raid of the Whitefeather residence that same day discovered two teenagers held in a dilapidated, locked shed where they were wearing rags as clothing- Donald Ray Lantz, 63 and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather pleaded not guilty to more than a dozen new charges on Tuesday by MetroNews.
The husband and his wife are charged with starving their five adopted children on the couple’s Sissonville property.
Lantz and Whitefeather were first taken into custody in October after a wellness check was reportedly conducted at the couple´s property, where officers found their five adopted children — aged 6, 9, 11,,14 and 16 -– living in deplorable conditions.
The indictment was the worst circuit judge Maryclaire Akers had ever seen. Westlake Legal alleges that the children alleged they were made to work on race horses at the couple’s farm.
“It alleges human trafficking, human rights violations, the use of forced labor,” Akers told the court. She continued to say, “Human rights violations specific to the fact that these children were targeted because of their race and they were used basically as slaves from what the indictment alleges.”
The couple is facing a myriad of charges such as human trafficking in the second degree, which includes charging them with carrying out forced labor on a minor; plus child neglect creating substantial risk for serious bodily injury or death.
Sources reported that Whitefeather and Lantz were arrested following a welfare check by one of their neighbors claiming two teens had been locked in an outbuilding at the couple’s Sissonville house. Neighbors also told officials the children were made to do farm work.
Police later discovered a 14-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl stuck in the shed. There was a little RV porta potty inside, but had no lights nor running water. Those same teens told police they had been locked in the barn for the past 12 hours.
The two teens told officials they were made to sleep on the concrete floor with no mattresses. In the filing, police said they both were wearing filthy clothes and reeked of body odor. The girl had a pair of shoes on her feet while the 14-year-old boy was barefoot and “had open sores on his bare feet.”
Police then found a 9-year-old girl inside the main house. Three hours later, Whitefeather came with a 6-year-old girl.
Whitefeather told deputies that the two teens were locked in the outbuilding, but said they “liked it” and referred to it as a “clubhouse.”
The children said the abuse started years earlier and that it continued once at their West Virginia home as well as in a different residence of their parents’ located in Washington state.
Prosecutors showed evidence that the couple moved out of Washington after finding out they were being investigated for abuse and neglect.
Judge Akers had first changed their bond amount since prosecutors believed the couple, June and Eric Hall were using illegal funds to get out of jail in February with a $400,000 cash bond, according to news outlets.
Christopher Krivonyak, an assistant prosecuting attorney for Kanawha County, said the couple sold the 80-acre ranch in Tonasket, Washington on Feb. 2 for $725,000. Three days later, Whitefeather’s brother posted two $200,000 bonds to get the couple out of the South Central Regional Jail.
Prosecutors said on March 28 that the couple had sold the Sissonville home where they were arrested for $295,000. Even if their bond money was from a legitimate source, prosecutors said it would have been used to pay for the forced labor and human trafficking.
Krivonyak recommended transferring the money from state custody to a trust fund for the children. Lantz and Whitefeather were rearrested last month when their bonds increased to $500,000 each.
