A wealthy couple is facing grave charges after being accused of treating their five adopted children like slaves and forcing them to sleep in a barn. The children, aged between 6 and 16, were found living in appalling conditions.
Donald Ray Lantz, 63, and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 62, recently pleaded not guilty to more than a dozen new charges. Their troubling acts were uncovered back in October, following a welfare check that revealed two teenagers living in a filthy shed.
Neighbors raised the alarm after witnessing the children being made to work on the couple’s farmland and not being allowed inside the house. The poor treatment stemmed from the couple’s racial prejudices against the children.
An initial welfare check found that two teenagers were locked up in a shed without lights or running water. One of the teens told the authorities he had been locked up for 12 hours without any food, and they had to sleep on the concrete floor without mattresses.
During police questioning, Jeanne Kay Whitefeather shockingly claimed that the boys enjoyed being in the shed, describing it as their ‘clubhouse.’
The children confided in the authorities, sharing stories of abuse at their homes in West Virginia and their previous home in Washington State. It is believed that the couple moved to West Virginia to evade an earlier investigation into child abuse and neglect in Washington.
Prosecutors reported that the couple’s initial cash bonds were funded by trafficking profits. Despite managing to pay $400,000 for their bond in February, their bonds have now been elevated to $500,000 each. This move followed the sale of their assets, including an 80-acre ranch in Washington for $725,000 and their West Virginia home for $295,000.
Prosecutors are also pushing for the proceeds from these sales to be placed in a trust for the children. Lantz and Whitefeather now face charges including human trafficking of a minor, use of a minor in forced labor, and child neglect that created a significant risk of serious injury or death.
Despite Whitefeather’s disturbing description of the shed as a ‘clubhouse,’ the children’s horrifying conditions and treatment paint a very different reality. They were systematically abused and stripped of basic human dignities – acts for which the couple is now being held accountable.
It’s a relief to know that the children are now safe, and steps are being taken to ensure their future is brighter and filled with the love and care they deserve. The community remains hopeful that justice will be served, sending a strong message against such abhorrent acts.
