A West Virginia couple will remain behind bars as they await trial for allegedly using their adopted black children as “slaves,” according to a judge.
Donald Ray Lantz, 63, and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 62, are being held on a combined $1 million on human trafficking and other charges after a judge last week increased their bond.
The husband and wife, who are both white, pleaded not guilty to charges of human trafficking of a minor child, use of a minor child in forced labor, child neglect creating substantial risk of serious bodily injury or death, and false swearing.
A neighbor first alerted law enforcement in October 2023 about concerns over the welfare of the couple’s adopted children. Authorities found a teenage boy and girl locked in a shed in their Sissonville home near Charleston. The outhouse did not have any running water or bathrooms, according to the criminal complaint, and the children did not have adequate food.
Authorities later found a 9-year-old girl crying inside the main residence. A fourth child later came home with Mr. Lantz. A fifth child, a 6-year-old girl, was found at another home with acquaintances from the couple’s church.
The husband and wife were arrested and all the children were placed under the care of Child Protective Services.
A grand jury indicted the couple in May.
Ms. Whitefeather’s attorney, Mark Plants, explained in court the shed was a “teenage clubhouse” that even had a key inside, calling the situation a “simple misunderstanding.”
According to the indictment, the couple forced, threatened, and interfered with “the free exercise and enjoyment of any right and privilege” of the children. The young victims were only identified in the indictment by their initials.
“Neighbors also reported that the children were forced to perform farm labor and were not permitted inside the residence,” the filing stated.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen an indictment like this in all of my time,” Judge Maryclaire Akers stated in a June 11 court hearing.
“It alleges human trafficking, human rights violations the use of forced labor—human rights violations specific to the fact that these children were targeted because of their race and their use as basically slaves from what the indictment alleges along with human trafficking and neglect with seriously bodily injury or death,” the judge said.
The judge increased their bonds to $500,000 each after stating in court that their previous cash bonds were insufficient.
Kanawha County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Christopher Krivonyak had argued that the two $200,000 cash bonds posted to secure the couple’s release in February were allegedly illegally obtained from trafficking profits.
That $400,000 remains in the custody of the Kanawha County Circuit Court Clerk’s office. Prosecutors argued that that money should be transferred into a trust for the children.
The couple remains in South Central Regional Jail. Their trial has been set for Sept. 9.