Couple sentenced to 375 years collectively for forcing Black children to work 'as slaves'

USA Today

24-03-2025

Couple sentenced to 375 years collectively for forcing Black children to work 'as slaves'
A white West Virginia couple convicted of abusing their five adopted Black children and forcing them to work as slaves was sentenced to up to 375 years collectively in state prison.
Jeanne Whitefeather, 63, was sentenced to up to 215 years while Donald Lantz, 62, was sentenced to up to 160 years, Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney Debra Rusnak announced at a press conference Wednesday.
In January, a jury convicted Whitefeather of human trafficking of a minor child, violation of civil rights, use of a minor child in forced labor, gross child neglect by a parent (creating a substantial risk of serious bodily injury), and child abuse by a parent (causing bodily injury), the prosecutor's office said in a press release.
Lantz was convicted of human trafficking of minor child, use of minor child in forced labor, child neglect (creating a substantial risk of serious bodily injury or death), and child abuse resulting in bodily injury.
They each have to pay $280,000 in restitution as well, Rusnak announced Wednesday, adding that the sentencing 'ensures that neither of these defendants will ever breathe free air again.'
Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers previously said that the case alleged human trafficking, human rights violations," and the use of forced labor, according to West Virginia MetroNews.
'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," Akers said.
Reports: Children were adopted in Washington, then moved to West Virginia
Whitefeather, Lantz and the five children previously lived in Washington, television station WHSV-TV reported. All five children were homeschooled in October 2023, according to the station.
At the time, the children were 6, 9, 11, 14, and 16, reported WCHS-TV.
The couple was first charged after someone called the Kanawha County Sheriff's Office at 5:46 p.m. on Oct. 2, 2023. The caller asked deputies to come to a home in Sissonville, about 16 miles north of Charleston, the sheriff's office said in a news release.
Deputies broke into a shed on the property, where they found a 14-year-old and a 16-year-old locked inside a 20-by-14-foot room. The children had no way of getting out on their own, no running water, no bathrooms and had been denied hygienic care, the sheriff's office said.
Inside the main residence, deputies found a small child locked inside alone. The child was in a loft that was 15 feet high, the sheriff's office said.
Citing a criminal complaint and the 911 caller, WCHS-TV reported that the children were locked in the shed for days at a time. The caller also told deputies they'd seen Lantz open the door to the shed, talk to the children, and then close the door, locking them inside.
The caller said the children were forced to do farm work and not allowed inside the home.
Citing the criminal complaint, WCHS-TV reported the teens had dirty clothes and body odor. A deputy also testified and said there was a concrete floor, a pan on a tarp that the children used as a bathroom, and a table and chair. Inside, the teens had no bedding, no air conditioning, and only a loaf of bread and cups of warm water.
No caretakers or parents were at the home when authorities first showed up but eventually, Lantz and Whitefeather showed up, the sheriff's office said.
Lawyer, defendant's brother say shed was a 'teenage clubhouse'
During an arraignment on June 11, Whitefeather's attorney Mark Plants said the shed where the 14 and 16-year-old were found was a 'teenage clubhouse' and the situation was 'just a plain and simple misunderstanding." He said there was a key inside the shed the entire time, reported television station WCHS-TV.
One of the witnesses who testified during the trial was Whitefeather's brother, Mark Hughes. Hughes lived in Ohio but said he traveled to Sissonville about a week after his sister's arrest, reported WCHS-TV.
He testified that the family was moving to a bigger home with more bedrooms, which explained why the home the children were found in wasn't furnished. Hughes said the shed was a "hangout." He also said his sister told him during a phone call that there was a key inside the shed.
'I was shocked when I saw this key,' he said. During the trial, a photo of a key on a rope was shown to the court. Hughes said he found it on a table in the shed near the door.
Plants, Whitefeather's lawyer, previously said the parents made "very, very poor decisions' but a jury would decide what was done factually.
Restitution will cover medical treatment for five children
When asked about the couple paying the children $280,000 in restitution, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Chris Krivonyak said the children may need counseling or medical treatment in the future.
'We just tried to run numbers that were reasonable based on the circumstances, but we took the cost of a visit to the doctor and assumed a certain number per year over a period of years, and that's how we came up with the number,' he said.
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Madison Tuck spoke Wednesday and said she became an assistant prosecutor to help children.
'I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with the children in this case,' she said. 'They are so wonderful, so smart, so funny. They are going to do amazing things in this world, and I'm so grateful to be a part of getting some semblance of justice for them after they experienced all of this.'
According to WCHS-TV, the oldest child testified during the trial and had a request for Whitefeather's lawyer, who referred to Whitefeather as the teen's mother.
"Don't call her my mother, please,' the teen said. 'That's my only request to you. Her name is Jeanne or Ms. Whitefeather," she said. "Please and thank you."
Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at [e-mail].