The Sissonville W. Va., couple, right, accused of child trafficking, forced slavery and more are required to disgorge illegal profits through payments to the enslaved children. The children were often forced to remain in the shed, right. The couple’s lawyer said his clients plan to appeal because the charges were false. PHOTOS COURTESY OF KANAWHA COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE

By David L. Snelling

Miami – A disgraced West Virginia white couple will serve life in prison after a jury convicted them of forced slavery and multiple charges of mistreatment of their five adopted African American children.

According to the Independent newspaper in the state, Judge Maryclaire Akers of the Eighth Judicial Circuit Court in Kanawha County, sentenced Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 63, to 215 years in prison and her husband, Donald Lantz, 62 of Sissonville, received a 160 year imprisonment term after a jury convicted the couple of forced labor, slavery, child neglect, human trafficking and forcing their kids to live in deplorable conditions. Whitefeather was also convicted of a civil rights violation. Prosecutors said she used racially derogatory language to describe the children.

They will each also have to pay $280,000 in restitution to the children.

Their five Black siblings, ages 5 to 16, were found locked in a shed in unsanitary conditions, which led to the couple’s arrest.

Whitefeather and Lantz adopted the kids when they lived in Minnesota and moved to West Virginia in 2023.

“You brought them to West Virginia, a place I know as almost heaven, and you put them in hell,” Judge Maryclaire Akers told the couple before handing down the sentence. “This court will now put you in yours. May God have mercy on your souls because this court will not.”

Before sentencing, Whitefeather was contrite as she addressed her kids who were all inside the courtroom.

“I have made mistakes, and I’m very sorry for that,” she said. “I love my children, and I have never done anything to harm them intentionally.”

Lantz also spoke to his kids with tears. “I would just like to say, children, I do love you,” Lantz said.

Their oldest daughter addressed her parents.

“I don’t understand at all how you were able to treat any person the way you treated me and my siblings and then preach the name of God right after that,” she said. “I feel like I went through a lot more mentally because I had to watch my siblings go through those things. I felt hopeless in those situations. I felt a lot of anger.”

The couple’s lawyer told reporters that his clients plan to appeal the conviction because the charges were false.

Law enforcement launched an investigation into the couple when officials were notified by an anonymous person about the children living in deplorable conditions and possibly the victims of human trafficking.

They interviewed dozens of witnesses and collected evidence at the couple’s property.

Officers discovered the children were forced to sleep on the floor and used the same bucket for the bathroom.

One of the children told officers they were fed peanut butter sandwiches, ate leftovers that led to food poisoning, and they didn’t eat on some days.

When they started to complain, the couple would lock some of the kids in the shed.

Officers also learned the kids were given a lot of chores and were punished if they didn’t finish in time for dinner.

The couple and their attorneys pushed back on the accusations, with Lantz testifying that the chores were assigned to teach the children responsibility.

The defense argued the couple was simply overwhelmed by trying to get help for the children’s mental health issues, abuse and trauma from their biological home. Lantz’s attorney, John Balenovich, said the state’s child welfare agency, which the family requested help from several times, “dropped the ball the most in this case.”

Whitefeather must serve at least 40 years in prison before she’s eligible for parole and Lantz will have to serve at least 30.

The children were placed in foster homes.