White West Virginia couple arrested for keeping Black kids in barn

Source: Grace Cary / Getty

White folks living in the boonies are not to be trusted under any circumstances. You should already know that but here’s another reason why.

A white couple from West Virginia was arrested last year after a wellness check revealed that 63-year-old Donald Ray Lantz and 62-year-old Jeanne Kay Whitefeather were keeping two of their five adopted Black children holed up in a “deplorable” shed behind their home. According to WV Metro News, the couple each posted $200,000 bonds at the time but Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers has revoked that bond in light of over a dozen new charges filed against them. Lantz and Whitefeather recently appeared in court to plead not guilty to the accusations that include human trafficking of a minor child, use of a minor child in forced labor, and child neglect creating substantial risk of serious bodily injury or death.

Judge Akers said in court that she no longer finds the original bond sufficient considering the severity of the charges. She went on to say that she’s never seen an indictment like this in her days sitting on the bench.

“It alleges human trafficking, human rights violations, the use of forced labor,” Akers said. “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.”

These sick soup cookies can thank Kanawha County prosecutor Christopher Krivonyak for their increased bond to $500,000 after successfully arguing that Lantz and Whitefeather could post their original bonds by using profits from trafficking despite declaring that they had no assets.

Krivonyak stated that the couple sold an 80-acre ranch in Tonasket, Washington for $725,000 on Feb. 2. Whitefeather’s brother, Marcus Hughes posted two $200,000 bonds to release the couple from the South Central Regional Jail three days later.

Initially, Whitefeather tried to couch the slave shed as a “teenage clubhouse”. However, deputies discovered a 16-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy who were dirty with sores and locked away with a port-a-potty and no running water.

We hope these white folks go to jail before they go to hell.