A couple who have been accused of locking up their adopted black children and forcing them to work as slaves have been sent behind bars once again.
Donald Ray Lantz, 63, and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 62, of Charleston, West Virginia, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to more than a dozen new charges after their children were found locked in a dilapidated shed after to work on the surrounding farmland.
The new charges included human trafficking of a minor, use of a minor in forced labor and child neglect creating a substantial risk of serious bodily injury or death.
Their bail has now been set at $500,000 each, which is $300,000 more than each of their original bonds.
The couple’s first arrest took place in October after it was discovered that the couple’s five adopted children, all of whom were black, were forced to live in a locked barn under squalid conditions.
A couple accused of locking their adopted black children in their backyard shed (pictured) and forcing them to be child slaves have been sent behind bars once again.
Donald Ray Lantz, 63, and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 62, of Charleston, West Virginia, pleaded not guilty Tuesday.
The latest allegation claims the couple is guilty of human rights violations, speculating that the couple forced their children into forced labor because of their race.
Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers told MetroNews that this case is the first of its kind she has seen in her career and that the couple’s original bail of $200,000 was insufficient compared to the severity of their crimes.
“In addition to human trafficking and abandonment, there was a serious risk of bodily injury or death, I don’t think bail is enough,” Akers said. ‘It alleges human trafficking, human rights violations, use of forced labor.’
‘Specific human rights violations in the fact that these children were targeted because of their race and were basically used as slaves, the indictment alleges.’
Prosecutors previously expressed concern that the couple’s $400,000 bail money in February could have come from their alleged human trafficking activities.
Kanawha County Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Krivonyak reported that the couple, who previously claimed to have no assets or income, sold an 80-acre ranch in Tonasket, Washington, for $725,000 on February 2.
Three days later, Whitefeather’s brother posted two $200,000 bail bonds to get the couple out of the cells where they were being held.
Then, on March 28, Krivonyak noted that they had also sold their home in Sissonville, where they were arrested, for $295,000.
Prosecutors concluded that regardless of whether the money was obtained legally or not, it was originally intended for human trafficking.
The couple’s money is still in the court’s custody, which Krivonyak said should be transferred to the children in the form of a trust fund.
The minors involved were 16, 14, 11, 9 and six years old.
Whitefeather previously stated that the barn where the 16-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy were found was a “teenage clubhouse” and that they were not held against their will.
Pictured: Photos of the interior of a Sissonville shed where two teenagers were allegedly found locked up on October 2, were shown during a bail hearing for Jeanne Whitefeather in October 2023. The photos were taken by Whitefeather’s brother about a week after the arrests.
The children were found by authorities with a series of health problems.
However, the teen told officers that they had been locked in the building for approximately 12 hours and the last time they were given food was in the morning.
The building only had a small RV port-a-potty and no running water, according to pictures of the interior and the initial police report.
The children were also forced to sleep on the hard cement floor, they said.
Court documents said neighbors reported the children were forced to work in the fields and were not allowed into the main house.
The records also state that the teen suffered from body odor and had “open sores on his bare feet.”
Officers found the nine-year-old girl inside the main house three hours after police arrived at the scene.
Lantz returned home with the 11-year-old boy, while Whitefeather turned over her six-year-old daughter to authorities, who was with friends from the couple’s church.
His trial is scheduled for September 9.
