A white West Virginia couple found guilty of forcing their five adopted Black children to work as “slaves” on their farm were sentenced to hundreds of years in prison.
Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 63, was sentenced Wednesday to 215 years in prison. Her husband, Donald Lantz, 64, received 160 years.
“You brought these kids to West Virginia, a place as I know as almost heaven and put them in hell,” Circuit Court Judge MaryClaire Akers said, according to NBC affiliate WSAZ of Huntington, West Virginia.
“The court will now put you in yours. May God have mercy on your souls, because this court will not,” she said.
The couple adopted the children from a shelter for homeless and vulnerable youths. Whitefeather and Lantz were living in Minnesota at the time and moved the children to Washington state in 2018 and then West Virginia in 2023, The Associated Press reported.
They were found in October 2023 after Kanawha County Sheriff’s deputies went to the Sissonville home to conduct a welfare check. A neighbor reported seeing Lantz lock a girl and her teenage brother in a shed and leave.
The sheriff’s office said the two children in the shed had no running water or bathroom and had been “deprived of adequate hygienic care and food.” The children said they slept on the concrete floor and had been locked inside for about 12 hours before they were found. Another girl was found inside the home.
When Lantz arrived home, he had another child with him and led the deputies to a friend’s home where the fifth child was staying, WCHS-TV of Charleston reported.
An indictment alleged that the couple targeted the children for forced labor because of their race. They were charged with human trafficking, child neglect, forced labor, and other crimes.
Whitefeather apologized to the children during the sentencing.
“I just want the court to know that I have made mistakes I am very sorry for that and I love my children and I have never, ever, done anything to my … children to harm them intentionally,” she said, according to WSAZ. “Children, I do love you.”
The oldest child told Whitefeather and Lantz in an impact statement that they were “monsters,” the news station reported.
“I will be something amazing,” another child said. “I will be strong and beautiful. You will always be exactly what you are — horrible.”
The youngest child said they were “taught to laugh at” their siblings and had to watch a lot of the abuse.
“Now, at my new home, I see that everything was not right with Jeanne and Donald,” the child’s impact statement said.
Whitefeather and Lantz were ordered to pay $280,000 in restitution apiece to the victims, WSAZ reported.