Donald Ray Lantz, 63, and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 62, of Charleston, West Virginia , pled not guilty on Tuesday to upgraded new charges of child exploitation and forced slavery

They are facing, 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

The wealthy white couple were indicted after allegedly forcing their adopted black children to work as slaves and live in barn

Presiding judge said couple targeted their five kids – aged 16, 14, 11, nine, and six – because of their race and they were ‘used basically as slaves.’

Lantz and Whitefeather were remanded on bond raised from $200, 000 to $500,000 the new charges

These were upgraded charges for the couple who were first arrested in October 2023, after their adopted children were found locked in a shed on their property

Two of the couple’s teenage adopted children – girl, 16, and boy, 14, were found in a backyard shed without amenities that could not be opened from the inside – without food or water

The children were found with an array of health problems, Child Protective Services were called and they took custody of the children

Donald Ray Lantz, 63, and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, 62 of Charleston, West Virginia , pled not guilty on Tuesday to the new charges they are facing, 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

Wealthy Charleston, West Virginia couple Donald Ray Lantz and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather, have been accused of forcing their children to work as slaves and live inside a locked barn.
Lantz, 63, and Whitefeather, 62, who are white, pled not guilty on Tuesday to multiple new charges after their adopted black children were found locked in a dilapidated backyard shed after allegedly laboring on the surrounding farmland.
The judge presiding over the case said the couple, targeted their five children, ages 16, 14, 11, nine, and six, because of their race, adding they were ‘used basically as slaves.’

The backyard shed that could not be opened from the inside where two of the couple’s teenage adopted children – girl, 16, and boy, 14 – were found, without lights, food or running water. The teens were also forced to do manual labor on the surrounding farmland

According to the original arrest report in October, the 16 and 14-year-old children were locked in the squalid 20×14 shed with no lights, food or running water – with a camera planted in the top left corner of the room.
Rescuers said the children, who smelled of body odor, were found wearing dirty clothes with sores on their feet after a wellness check was performed on the outhouse on Cheyenne Lane – which had no way of being opened from the inside.
The shed sat on the grounds of the couple’s five-acre, three-bedroom $295,000 Sissonville property. They also owned an 80-acre $725,000 home in Tonasket, Washington, which they sold after their arrest in October.

Lantz, [left], and Whitefeather, [right], were first arrested in October 2023 after their adopted children were found locked in a shed on their property. Whitefeather told deputies the children – who were all home schooled – actually ‘liked’ the shed they were locked in

Whitefeather claimed the barn where the black teens, 16-year-old girl and boy, 14, were found, was a ‘teenage clubhouse,’ adding that the children were not held against their will.
The mother told deputies the children – who were all home schooled – actually ‘liked’ the shed they were locked in. 
However, the teenage girl told deputies they had been locked in the building for approximately 12 hours and were last given food at 6am. 
The building only had a small RV porta-potty and no running water, according to images from inside and descriptions from the initial police report. 
The children were also forced to sleep on the hard concrete floor, they said. The criminal complaint stated: ‘If there was a medical emergency or fire, the children would be unable to exit the locked room to safety.’

Photos from inside a Sissonville shed where two black teenagers were allegedly found locked inside on Oct 2, 2023, were shown during a bond hearing for their white adoptive adoptive mother Jeanne Whitefeather

Court documents said neighbors reported that the children were forced into farm labor and were not allowed inside the main house.
Filings also state that the teenage boy found inside the outhouse smelled of body odor and had ‘open sores on his bare feet.’
Three hours after finding the older children in the locked shed, deputies found a nine-year-old girl up in a loft inside the family’s locked main house.
Lantz came home with the 11-year-old boy, while Whitefeather surrendered their six-year-old girl to authorities, who has been with friends from the couple’s church.

The children were found by authorities with an array of health problems, Child Protective Services were called at the time, and took custody of the children. Incidentally the photos were taken by Whitefeather’s brother about a week following the arrests 

Child Protective Services were called at the time, and took custody of the children.
The new charges the couple are facing 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.
Their bond has now been set to $500,000 each – which is $300,000 more than each of their original bonds. 
The latest indictment outlining the upgraded charges claims the couple is guilty of human rights violations, alleging that the couple forced their children into hard labor because of their race. 
Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers described the case as the first of its kind that she has seen in her career. The judge said the couple’s original bond of $200,000 was insufficient compared to the severity of their crimes.
‘Along with human trafficking and neglect was serious risk of bodily injuries or death, I don’t find the bond to be sufficient,’ Akers said. 
‘It alleges human trafficking, human rights violations, the use of forced labor.’

Donald Ray Lantz, [photo], 63, faces upgraded charges in the latest indictment – claiming he and his wife are guilty of human rights violations, after forcing their children into hard labor because of their race

Lantz’s wife Jeanne Kay Whitefeather [left] faces the same faces upgraded charges in the latest indictment. Both are being held after bond was raised from $200,000 to $500,000, each

‘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.’
The minors involved were aged 16, 14, 11, nine, and six. The indictment suggests that three of the adopted children were black.  
Prosecutors previously raised concerns that the couple’s joint $400,000 bond money in February might have come from their alleged human trafficking activities.
Kanawha County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Christopher Krivonyak reported that despite an earlier claims of having no assets or income, the couple sold their 80-acre ranch in Tonasket, Washington for $725,000 on February 2. 
Three days later, Whitefeather’s brother Marcus Hughes posted two $200,000 bonds to get the couple out of the jail cells they were being held in. 
Then on March 28, Krivonyak noted that they had also sold their home in Sissonville, where they were arrested, for $295,000.
Deputies say there are no prior criminal records of the two adults in West Virginia., but prosecutors concluded that whether or not the bail money was obtained legally, it was originally intended for human trafficking.

Outhouses [photo], on the wealthy white couple’s property on Cheyenne Lane, in Charleston, WV, where their adoptive black children were locked in without food water and aminities

Kanawha County Sheriff’s deputies previously said that a complaint about the couple was first lodged back in May 2023. The second complaint came in September – complaints similar to the charges the pair now face.
Conducting welfare checks after each complaint in 2023, deputies reported finding no wrongdoing after trips to the West Virginia home. The officers saw the children inside the home, and on one occasion, they were eating dinner. 
CPS was also called on the family, according to their neighbor Stacy Miller, who told West Virginia Watch that she witnessed the kids out in the yard with their ‘heads down and forced to stand in a straight line.’
She described what she saw as forced manual labor.

The shed was among these outhouses on the property on Cheyenne Lane in Charleston, WV. The initial arrests happened in October 2023. The couple sold their home three months later, in December 2023

Judge Miller said that she never heard back from CPS about the worries: ‘I’m supposed to do the right thing and call. For a government entity that us taxpayers fund … to not feel like I was listened to at all, that’s heartbreaking for me.’ 
The couple’s initial bond money is now in the custody of the court, which Krivonyak said should be transferred to the children in the form of a trust fund.
Their next court appearance is set for September 9.