CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Sissonville couple convicted on over 30 combined charges of child abuse and neglect, forced labor, and human trafficking will have their sentencing in Kanawha County Wednesday.
After two of Jeanne Kay Whitefeathers’ and Donald Ray Lantz’ five adoptive black children were found locked in a shed on their Sissonville property back in October 2023, the couple was found guilty on nearly all 35 charges during an 11-day trial earlier this year.
Jeanne Whitefeather (WVRJA)
Whitefeather was also convicted on four counts of civil rights violations.
Evidence gathered during the investigation from Whitefeather’s cell phone confiscated by the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office, as well as video surveillance footage taken from cameras the couple had set up inside their home and in the shed where the two oldest children stayed, depicted the children being mistreated in multiple ways, including threats to be beaten, being denied food and beds, and being called racial slurs.
Donald Ray Lantz (WVRJA)
The content found on Whitefeather’s phone that the sheriff’s office had sent over to the West Virginia Fusion Center dated back from at least 2021 during the family’s time living in Washington State up until the couples’ arrest in Sissonville on October 2, 2023.
Sissonville neighbors who testified during the 11-day trial that wrapped up in January claimed they saw evidence that the children were being forced to work and had suspected two of the children were being locked in the shed, leading to one neighbor to ultimately make the call to local authorities.
The couple’s sentencing is set for Wednesday, March 19 at 10 a.m. before Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers.
Whitefeather faces a maximum of 215 years in prison. Lantz faces a max of 140 years.