Source: South Central Regional Jail / South Central Regional Jail
On Tuesday, a judge more than doubled the bond of a white couple in Sissonville, West Virginia, accused of locking two of their five adopted Black children in a barn and forcing them into slave labor, among other offenses allegedly carried out against the children in their care.
According to WV Metro News, 63-year-old Donald Ray Lantz and 62-year-old Jeanne Kay Whitefeather—who were first arrested last October after deputies arrived for a wellness check that led to the discovery of the two oldest children locked in a shed on the couple’s property and living in deplorable conditions with a p[orta-potty and no running water—pleaded not guilty Tuesday to numerous charges, including 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.
During arraignment, Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers revoked the couple’s previous bond of $200,000 each, and, instead, issued a new bond of $500,000 each.
From Metro News:
The indictment also alleges human rights violations, alleging the adopted children, who were black, were specifically targeted by the couple and forced to work because of their race.
Akers said it’s an indictment she’s never seen before during her time as a judge.
“It alleges human trafficking, human rights violations, the use of forced labor,” Akers said. “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.”
Kanawha County prosecutors argued there was concern that Lantz and Whitefeather had used the profits from the alleged slave labor of their children, ages 6, 9, 11, 14 and 16, to post bond and that they shouldn’t be allowed to benefit from “contraband directly or indirectly used or intended for use” to violate human trafficking laws, not to mention the civil liberties of Black children as young as six.
According to police, Whitefeather described the shed that the 14 and 16-year-old were found in as a “teenage clubhouse,” but photos show that the old, dilapidated shed that reportedly has no running water isn’t the kind of thing young teens would typically enjoy spending their time. And, allegedly, the teens were forced to spend a lot of time there.
More from Metro News:
The 16-year-old girl told deputies they had been locked in the building for approximately 12 hours and were last given food around 6:00 a.m. that day.
The children also said they were forced to sleep on the concrete floor of the shed without any mattress or padding.
Court documents stated that the 14-year-old boy had “open sores on his bare feet,” and that the children were dirty and smelled of body odor.
In addition, deputies said they found a 9-year-old girl inside the main home, and three hours from when law enforcement first arrived, Lantz came home with an 11-year-old boy.
Whitefeather came home about an hour after that and led deputies to a 6-year-old girl who had been with acquaintances from the couple’s church.
The criminal trial for Lantz and Whitefeather is set to begin on Sept. 9.
See how social media is reacting the terrible actions below.
