Charleston, W.VA. (AP) – A couple from West Virginia received the maximum sentences in prison on Wednesday for abuse of their adoptive parents, which included hard work, locking them in bedrooms, forcing some to sleep on concrete floors and make them stand for hours with their hands on their heads.
Jean Kay Whitefather received up to 215 years in prison and her husband Donald Lantz received a term of up to 160 years. The jurors of Kanau District on January 29 have recognized the couple guilty of many charges of forced labor, human trafficking and violence against children and neglect. Whitefeather was also convicted of civil rights violations based on race.
Whitefeather will be eligible for conditional release after serving 40 years and Lantz after 30.
“You have brought these children to Western Virginia, a place I know as” almost heaven “, and you put them in hell. This court will now put you in yours, “the judge of the Marycar Akers chain told the defendants.” And God have mercy on your souls. Because this court does not. “
One by one, letters written by four of the children were read in court by the victim’s lawyer of the prosecution. Some of the children stood by the lawyer’s side as she read. The letters state that the children have suffered an indescribable trauma, have difficulty trusting anyone, tolerate nightmares, and that they are questioning and afraid of affection.
The oldest girl, who is already 18, turned directly to the court, telling Whitefered: “I will never understand how you can sleep at night. I want you to know that you are a monster.”
Previously, Akers ordered information newsletters not to publish the names of the children or to use their images.
The White couple accepted the five black siblings while living in Minnesota moved to a farm in Washington in 2018, after which he brought the family to West Virginia in May 2023, when the children varied at the age of 5 to 16 years.
Five months after arriving in Sarsonville, the couple was arrested after the neighbors saw Lantz lock the biggest girl and her teenage brother in a shed and leave the property. A MP used a shovel to take them out.
Inside the main residence, a 9-year-old girl was found to cry only in an attic without protection against fall, according to a criminal complaint. The children were found in dirty clothes and smelling of a body smell, the MPs said, and the oldest boy was found barefoot with what looked wounds on his feet.
The fourth child was with Lantz when he eventually returned and the deputies were later led by a 5-year-old girl. And the five were handed over to the child’s protection services after the couple’s arrest.
Last month, the biggest daughter filed a lawsuit against the couple, claiming that severe physical and emotional abuse and neglect, which marks her permanently.
After Whitefeather and Lantz made brief statements in court, Akers said they refused to take responsibility for their actions.
The judge pointed to a performance report in which the couple accuses his real estate agent “for not finding a place, isolated enough,” Acers said. “But I guess you had to explain to your real Reltor that you need an isolated place away from people so that you can continue to abuse your children.”
Children were forced to use hands to dig
During the test, neighbors testified that they had never seen the children play and witnessed Lantz to make them queue or fulfill difficult duties in the yard, including lifting heavy objects. After Lanz noticed the curious neighbors, the children mostly remained indoors.
The biggest daughter testifies that the outdoor work has happened most in Washington and that some of them are forced to use their hands to dig. She also said that the children were cursed throughout “all the time” and that Whitefeder used racist language.
The daughter said that Whitefeder had directed the preferential treatment of the youngest child who was involved in any of the accusations and that Whitefeder had told other children that he wanted life without them.
The daughter also said that the children were fed a constant diet of peanut butter sandwiches in planned times, some of which were left over from a previous meal. Some children were forced to stay in their rooms for hours and hold their hands on their heads. The oldest girl and boy shared a room, they were forced to sleep on the floor and used the same bathroom bucket while the other kept a confidential sheet from the security chambers of the home, according to the testimony.
The couple and their lawyers stepped back on the charges, with Lantz testifying that the case was appointed to teach the children responsibility.
Defense says the couple was buried
The defense claims that the couple is simply overwhelmed by trying to get help with the problems of mental health of children, abuse and trauma from their biological home. Lanz’s lawyer, John Balenovic, said the State Agency for the Welfare of Children, which the family asked for help several times, “missed the ball the most in this case.”
A forensic psychologist of the prosecutor’s office testifies that the treatment of the couple of children has worsened their conditions.
Attorney General Madison said here that the couple had never sought help for the biggest boy, although the behavioral health clinic was only minutes away from their home. The boy, whose physical dispute with Whitefedera in 2022 was cited by lawyers as the beginning of the internal struggles of the family, is currently receiving full -time care at a psychiatric establishment.
The Whitefeather lawyer, Mark Plants, said during the closing arguments that the couple was only guilty of making bad parental decisions.
“These are the farm people involved in farm cases,” Plants said. “It wasn’t about a race. It wasn’t about forced labor.”