The white West Virginia couple has been sentenced to hundreds of years in prison for forcing five adopted black children to work as “slaves” on their farms.
Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 63, was sentenced to 215 years in prison on Wednesday. Her husband, Donald Lantz, 64, took the 160 year period.
“You took me to West Virginia, a place I mostly know as heaven,” according to WSAZ, NBC affiliate in Huntington, West Virginia.
“The court will put you in you, as God has mercy in your soul, for this court will not,” she said.
The couple adopted children from shelter for homeless and vulnerable youth. Whitefeather and Lantz were living in Minnesota at the time, moving their children to Washington in 2018 and then to West Virginia in 2023, the Associated Press reported.
They were discovered in October 2023 after Kanawa County Sheriff’s Deputies went to their Sisonville home to conduct welfare checks. Neighbors reported seeing Lantz leave locking up the girl and her teenage brother in a shed.
The sheriff’s office said the two children in the shed had no running water or bathrooms and “were deprived of proper hygienic care and food.” The children said they were sleeping on concrete floors and were trapped for about 12 hours before they were found. Another girl was found inside the house.
When Lantz arrived at the house, he had another child and led deputies to a friend’s house where the fifth child was staying, reported WCHS-TV in Charleston.
The indictment alleged that the couple targeted their children for forced labor because of their race. They were charged with human trafficking, child neglect, forced labor and other crimes.
Whitefeather apologised to the children during the sentence.
“I just want the court to know that I made a mistake. I feel very sorry about that. I love my kids. “Children, I love you.”
The oldest children told Whitefeather and Lantz in an Impact statement that they were “monsters,” the news station reported.
“It’s going to be amazing,” another child said. “I’m strong and beautiful. You’re always going to be you exactly you – it’s scary.”
The youngest child said they had to see a lot of abuse, saying they were “taught to laugh” his brother.
“Now in my new home, I know that everything is not right with Jeanne and Donald,” a statement from the Child Impact stated.
Whitefeather and Lantz were ordered to pay the victim $280,000 in reparations, WSAZ reported.
