Couple accused of locking adopted black children in a barn and forcing them to work as slaves plead not guilty to abuse new charges

A West Virginia couple accused of locking their adopted black children in a barn and forcing them to work as slaves pleaded not guilty to their latest charges. 

Jeanne Whitefeather, 62 and Donald Lantz, 61, were arrested in October 2023 after two of their adoptive children were found severely neglected with no food, light or running water in a 20 by 14-foot shed with a camera in the corner.

The children had sores on their feet, wreaked of body odor and were wearing wet clothes. They were allegedly forced into labor on the couples Sissonville farmland. 

Kanawah County prosecutors said five children aged 16, 14, 11, nine and six were ‘used basically as slaves because of their race. 

Three hours after finding the older children in the locked shed, deputies found a nine-year-old girl holed up in a loft inside the familys locked main house. 

Whitefeather and Lantz - a white couple - appeared in court on Monday and pleaded not guilty to additional charges filed last month, which came on top of a series of other accusations which they also deny. 

Lantz charges now include one count of child abuse resulting in bodily injury for hitting a child, 13News reported.

His partner faced four new counts of child abuse resulting in bodily injury for spraying four adopted children with bear repellent.

Donald Ray Lantz, 63, and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 62 of Charleston, West Virginia , plead not guilty on Monday to the new charges they are facing. The couple were first arrested in October 2023 after their adopted children were found locked in a shed on their property

Pictured: The backyard shed where two of the couples teenage adopted children were found. There was no way to open the door from the inside, and cops found the kids without food or water. The kids were also forced to do manual labor on the surrounding farmland, its alleged

They are both also charged with human trafficking of a minor child: civil rights violations based on color, race and/or ancestry; use of minor child in forced labor; and child neglect creating a substantial risk of serious bodily injury or death.

When Child Protective Services (CPS) made the horrifying discovery of the two children locked in the shed, Whitefeather told deputies the children actually liked the shed they were locked in.

However, the teenage girl told deputies they had been locked in the building for approximately 12 hours and were last given food at 6am.

The building only had a small RV porta-potty and no running water, according to images from inside and descriptions from the initial police report.

The children were also forced to sleep on the hard concrete floor, they said. 

The criminal complaint stated: If there was a medical emergency or fire, the children would be unable to exit the locked room to safety.

Court documents said neighbors reported that the children were forced into farm labor and were not allowed inside the main house.

The shed sat on the grounds of the couples five-acre, three-bedroom $295,000 Sissonville property. They also owned an 80-acre $725,000 home in Tonasket, Washington, which they sold after their arrest in October 2023. 

After they posted bond on their initial round of charges, they sold the house where the children were abused for $295,000. 

Filings also state that the teenage boy found inside the outhouse smelled of body odor and had open sores on his bare feet.

The West Virginia couple are seen pictured at a previous court hearings

The children were found by authorities with an array of health problems - and the photos were taken by Whitefeathers brother about a week following the arrests 

CPS took all the children into custody.  

Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers said in June that the couples original bond of $200,000 was insufficient compared to the severity of their crimes.

Akers said: Along with human trafficking and neglect was serious risk of bodily injuries or death, I dont find the bond to be sufficient.

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 they were used basically as slaves from what the indictment alleges. 

The indictment suggested that three of the adopted children were black.

Before getting arrested in West Virginia, the couple fled Okanogan County, Washington to escape growing scrutiny from authorities there.

They abruptly sold their ranch early last year following probes from the sheriff’s office and Child Protective Services who were threatening to remove their oldest son from the home, sources revealed. 

DailyMail.com obtained a half dozen police reports giving more shocking details – including how two of their children ran away from home, and they allegedly forced one of them at gunpoint to stay in his room while using a bullwhip for punishment. 

Pictured: Outhouses on the property where the children were found in neglected condition 

When they moved to Sissonville, Lantz immediately complained that the barn was too close to the road and he was unhappy at the lack of privacy, according to one neighbor.

They were arrested just three months after relocating. 

Whitefeather and Lantz have posted bond on previous charges, but have not been bailed for their most recent ones.

The couple was booked into South Central Regional Jail in June and are both still in jail, each with a $500,000 cash-only bond.