OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
5:03 PM – Friday, March 21, 2025
A couple in West Virginia was given a total term of 375 years in prison for making their five adopted Black children work as “slaves” on their farm — while being “verbally abused” with derogatory remarks about their race.
Advertisement
Following their January convictions for “forced labor, human trafficking, child abuse and neglect,” Jeanne Kay Whitefeather was given a maximum sentence of 215 years in prison, while her husband, Donald Lantz, was given a term of 160 years.
“You brought these children to West Virginia, a place that I know as ‘Almost Heaven,’ and you put them in hell. This court will now put you in yours,” stated Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers, who spoke to the defendants on Wednesday.
“And may God have mercy on your souls. Because this court will not.”
The court read aloud a number of letters that four of the children wrote to their adoptive parents. According to the children’s letters, in the couple’s care, they…
Read the full article here