Trial begins for West Virginia couple accused of forced labor of 5 children

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A witness broke down in tears as she described what it was like for children in the hilly country of a West Virginia couple who were later arrested. Two of their five adopted children were found locked in a cell.

The trial of Jeanne Kay Whitefeather and Donald Ray Lantz began Tuesday on more than a dozen counts including forced labor, civil rights violations, human trafficking and aggravated child neglect.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Madison Tucker said in opening statements that evidence showed the couple forced the children to work and “used them physically, emotionally and mentally in order to make them comply.” She said text messages between Lantz and Whitefeather mentioned making children stand for long periods of time and locking the two older children, both teenagers, in an outbuilding.

Whitefeather’s attorney, Mark Plantz, said the case “is a story about adoptive parents struggling to cope with their children’s past trauma and severe mental illness.” He said friends and relatives of Whitefeather will testify, including that four of the children suffered at the hands of their biological mother. of “physical, sexual and emotional” abuse, including what he said was his mother’s use of alcohol and drugs during her pregnancy.

“This is a normal family,” Plantes said. “They have Christmas. All of them. They have Christmas presents. They have family holidays. They sit around the table and eat.

Lanz and Bai Yu are white. The children were all black and ranged in age from 5 to 16 years old.

The couple adopted five siblings in Minnesota and moved to a farm in Washington state in 2018 before moving again to West Virginia in 2023, when the children ranged in age from 5 to 16 No wait.

Neighbor Joyce Bailey testified Tuesday that when the family first arrived at their Sissonville, West Virginia, home in 2023 in a vehicle pulling an animal trailer, it was raining and the children Was told to queue outside.

“You never see them talking to each other,” she said. “They didn’t talk to each other at all. You didn’t see them out unless they were working. They never played.

Bailey repeatedly emotionally described the difficulty some of the children had while moving animal enclosures, propane tanks, buckets filled with water and other supplies between the home, trailer and barn as Lantz watched. Video of Bailey’s physical labor was shown in Kanawha County Circuit Court.

“He made them carry everything, the heavy fence,” Bailey said. “They would just stand there and wait for him to tell them what to do.”

Bailey said she also witnessed the oldest boy carrying a propane tank. The boy “could barely walk. He acted like his feet were in pain. He dragged them,” Bailey said. “Mr. Lantz just stood there. He said nothing, nothing to help him.

“It made me sad,” Bailey said, so she began filming. Bailey said her husband told her to stop filming when Lantz looked at her, but she continued to reply: “I don’t care.”

In September 2023, the couple bought a larger home in Beckley and began moving furniture out of their Sissonville home. Bailey said a month later, she saw Lantz lock the two teens in the outbuilding and leave the house. Not long after, Bai Yu left. Someone called police, and Bailey said she saw sheriff’s deputies knocking on the annex door for several minutes. A girl answered the phone but said she didn’t have the key. Bailey said she heard police talking to the girl and then using a crowbar to free the children.

The children were wearing dirty clothes and the oldest boy was barefoot and had what appeared to be sores on his feet, an officer said in a criminal complaint. Inside the main residence, a 9-year-old girl was found crying alone in the attic without any fall protection. When Lantz finally returned, a fourth child was with him. Later, staff found the couple’s 5-year-old adopted daughter.

Whitefeather and Lantz were arrested and the children were placed in the care of Child Protective Services.

The children were deprived of adequate food and health care, and the annex had no running water or bathroom facilities, the complaint said. Plantes called the outbuilding a “teenage clubhouse” and said there was a key inside. But Tucker said the children never knew there was a key.

Plantz said the oldest boy had tried to run away from the home and the locks on the outbuilding were to prevent him from trying again. The boy is currently receiving full-time care at a psychiatric hospital.