When you see that a couple adopted five Black children out of the kindness of their hearts, one may assume that they are good people who genuinely care about the well-being of kids. Allegedly, this couple doesn’t fit that bill.
Jeanne Whitefeather and Donald Lantz are being accused of adopting five Black children, ages six to 16, only to force them to work as “slaves” and live in vile conditions on their West Virginia barn. It’s alleged that these children were specifically targeted because of their race.
On Tuesday, the couple was charged with human trafficking of a minor child, use of a minor child in forced labor, and child neglect creating a substantial risk of serious bodily injury or death, according to West Virginia Metro News.
Whitefeather and Lantz are currently in jail in Kanawha County on a $500,000 bond each.
More from NBC News:
Kanawha County sheriff’s deputies said they found the children in October during a welfare check at the couple’s home in Sissonville. They said they forced their way into a barn on the property, where they found two children in a small room.
“The children had no means to exit the barn on their own, no running water, no bathroom facilities, and were obviously deprived of adequate hygienic care and food,” the sheriff’s department said in a statement at the time. It said they then found a “small child” locked inside the main home alone.
When they found the two children in the barn, they told authorities that they had been locked inside for more than 12 hours and were forced to sleep on a concrete floor. Furthermore, neighbors claimed that children who worked in the barn and on the farm were not allowed to enter the home of Whitefeather and Lantz, according to West Virginia Metro News.
Initially, the couple was being investigated for abusing the children at a ranch in the state of Washington, but when they learned that they were being investigated by local authorities, they sold the ranch and relocated to West Virginia, according to prosecutors.
The trial for the couple is set to start in September.