A West Virginia couple was recently sentenced to hundreds of years in prison for abusing their five adopted Black children, forcing them to live in a barn on their farm and work as “slaves.”
Jeanne Whitefeather, 63, was sentenced to up to 215 years in prison and will be eligible for parole in 49 years, according to The New York Times. She received additional charges over a civil rights violation for calling the children racial and derogatory names.
Her husband, Donald Lantz, 62, received up to 160 years in prison and will be eligible for parole in 36 years. The couple heard their fate in court on March 19.
Blavity reported that Whitefeather and Lantz were initially charged with human trafficking of a minor, using a minor in forced labor, and child neglect posing significant risk of serious bodily harm or death.
Judge Maryclaire Akers of the Eighth Judicial Circuit Court in Kanawha County initially convicted the couple in the harrowing case. At the time, she said she had never encountered a situation where children were used as “slave” workers.
She then delivered a stern rebuke to Whitefeather and Lantz over their treatment of the children during their sentencing.
“You brought these children to West Virginia, a place as I know is ‘almost heaven,’ and put them in hell,” Akers told them, The New York Times reported.
“The court will now put you in yours. And may God have mercy on your souls, because this court will not,” she added.
The couple shared statements during their sentencing
Whitefeather and Lantz were also allowed to speak during the hearing, with their statements aimed at the children.
WSAZ reported that Whitefeather said, “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.”
Lantz said, “Children, I do love you.”
The children also addressed the court through impact statements, sharing their thoughts on the couple and the lives they envision for themselves.
‘I will be something amazing’
According to the eldest child, Whitefeather and Lantz are “monsters” and “abusers,” and the siblings were “tortured mentally.”
Another child said, “I will be something amazing. I will be strong and beautiful. You will always be exactly what you are — horrible.“
WSAZ reported that the youngest child read a letter, saying, “I was taught to laugh at my siblings, and told they were bad, I was kept from them — watched a lot the stuff happen. Now, at my new home, I see that everything was not right with Jeanne and Donald.”
The couple has been ordered to pay $280,000 in restitution to each victim.
