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Fri, 21 Mar 2025 20:38:49 -0700
zerosugar from private IP, post #17874633
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White couple who forced adopted black children to work as ‘slaves’ sentenced to hundreds of years in prison
A white couple from West Virginia were collectively sentenced to 375 years in prison for forcing their five adopted black children to work on their farm as
“slaves” while being berated with racial slurs.
Jeanne Kay Whitefeather received up to 215 years in prison and her husband, Donald Lantz, will serve up to 160 years — the maximum sentence — after the pair
were convicted of forced labor, human trafficking and child abuse and neglect in January.
“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,”
Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers barked at the defendants on Wednesday.
“And may God have mercy on your souls. Because this court will not.”
The four oldest children penned emotional letters to their adoptive parents, which were read aloud in the courtroom. The children said in the letters that they
have endured life-changing trauma that’s left them scarred with trust issues and nightmares.
“I’ll never understand how you can sleep at night. I want you to know that you are a monster,” the eldest daughter, now 18, told the court.
Last month, the 18-year-old sued the couple, alleging severe physical and emotional abuse and neglect that has scarred her permanently.
The couple adopted the five black siblings in Minnesota, then moved to a farm in Washington state in 2018 before picking up and moving to Sissonville, West
Virginia, in May 2023, when the children were between 5 and 16 years old.
Whitefeather and Lantz were arrested months later in October 2023 after a child welfare call led to the discovery of two teenagers — the eldest daughter and
her teenage brother — locked in a shed at the couple’s home.
When police pried open the barn door with a crowbar, they found a porta potty but no lights or running water. One of the teens told police they had been locked
in the barn and not fed for 12 hours.
The siblings said the couple forced them to sleep on the concrete floor without any mattresses. They both wore dirty clothes and had body odor, police noted,
according to the filing.
Inside the main residence, a 9-year-old girl was found crying in a loft alone. Three hours later, Lantz arrived with an 11-year-old boy. Whitefeather soon
followed with a 5-year-old girl.
All five were turned over to Child Protective Services after the couple’s arrests.
Akers said last year after they were indicted “these children were targeted because of their race, and they were used basically as slaves.”
During the trial, neighbors testified that they never saw the children playing but did witness them standing in line or performing hard labor. Once Lantz
noticed his curious neighbors, he kept the children mostly inside, prosecutors said.
The eldest daughter testified that most of the outdoor work took place at the family’s Washington residence, where some of them were forced to use their hands
to dig.
She also said the children were verbally abused “all the time” and that Whitefeather used racist language.
They were fed mostly peanut butter sandwiches at scheduled times, and some children were forced to stand in their rooms for hours with their hands on their
heads.
The two oldest children were forced to sleep on the floor in their shared room and used the same bucket for the bathroom while the other held up a sheet for
privacy from the home’s security cameras, according to testimony.
The couple’s defense attorneys argued that they were overwhelmed after taking in the children, who were already suffering from the abuse of their biological
parents.
Whitefeather’s attorney, Mark Plants, said during closing arguments that the couple’s only crime was bad parenting.
“These are farm people that do farm chores,” Plants said. “It wasn’t about race. It wasn’t about forced labor.”
https://nypost.com/2025/03/21/us-news/white-couple-who-forced-black-children-to-work-as-slaves-sentenced-to-hundreds-of-years-in-prison/
#News
Fri, 21 Mar 2025 21:10:29 -0700
marlon from private IP
Reply #19605621
seems mixed race adoptions are bad. Where are the social workers?
Fri, 21 Mar 2025 21:28:54 -0700
zerosugar from private IP
Reply #14876401
@marlonTest adoption in general seems
problematic and while abortion is definitely a contentious issue, i think its sad that adoption is not discussed with the same anger. children deserve to know
who their biological parents are and its so sad that years ago women (oftentimes teenagers) were forced to have kids and then give them up for adoption. in more
modern times, a good example is what happened on the mtv show teen mom with catelynn. she was so young at the time and thought she was getting into an open
adoption then the adoptive parents just blocked her off.
anyway, you may be right on mixed race adoptions. on the flipside, there was this black woman who won a food network cooking contest and killed the white
daughter she adopted.
https://www.foxcarolina.com/2022/05/09/food-network-star-accused-beating-foster-daughter-death-goes-trial/
now i taught at a black school and enjoyed my time there more than the white schools. i thought the kids were actually so much kinder and sweeter than the white
kids, but certainly not everybody thinks like me. racism is just a fact of life.
Fri, 21 Mar 2025 21:32:32 -0700
zerosugar from private IP
Reply #19987549
@marlonTest also social workers fail.
there was a sad sad case here in illinois where it was the bio parents who murdered the child.
i cannot even read about it anymore as it was so so disturbing.
https://www.kelleykronenberg.com/blog/the-tragic-story-of-aj-freund-how-dcfs-failed-to-protect-a-child-from-abuse-and-neglect/
the social worker actually received a jail sentence for failing to protect the child.
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/former-dcfs-worker-sentenced-aj-freund/
Fri, 21 Mar 2025 21:36:48 -0700
zerosugar from private IP
Reply #14103241
https://www.illinois.gov/news/press-release.19961.html
Sat, 22 Mar 2025 11:07:26 -0700
whiteguyinchina from private IP
Reply #14274587
That's messed up
But i bet not the only story like that out thee
My great grandfather was taken from an orphanage and put to work on a farm as well
Tho this was 1890s
Sat, 22 Mar 2025 14:47:02 -0700
marlon from private IP
Reply #11138125
being raised by catholic nuns
Sat, 22 Mar 2025 17:27:27 -0700
zerosugar from private IP
Reply #11508746
@whiteguyinchinaTest thats a
very interesting history and sad. maybe you should do 23andme to see if there are any long lost relatives of your great grandfather out there.
adoptions were so unrestricted years ago, maybe even more so abroad than here in the usa. that movie the magdalene sisters was absolutely haunted of those unwed
pregnant girls forced to do labor for the nuns in ireland and basically forced to give the babies for adoption. in italy years ago, many women were raped too
and forced to carry out the pregnancies as no access to abortions and then who knows who they adopted out the kids to? i am happy 23andme and other dna websites
allow people to discover long lost relatives. 23andme is the best though because it gives the haplogroups and health information which can be especially useful.
when i saw the story of this woman who was adopted by american parents illegally from greece on tv several months back, i cried. she runs this website now.
https://www.theeftychiaproject.org/new-articles-stories-press-releases/testimony-of-greek-adoptee-at-united-nations-in-geneva-switzerland-on-first-anniversary-of-un-joint-statement-on-illegal-intercountry-adoption
these children were stripped of their identities and so much.
Sat, 22 Mar 2025 17:30:22 -0700
zerosugar from private IP
Reply #14298216
also about the kids in the original story in west virginia, at least they are still alive. i know they are scarred for
life, but some childreb aren't so lucky to make it out of an abusive situation alive like that little boy from illinois.
enough of these sad stories though, i think the story about the ukranian woman who pretended to be a child is scary, but can also be sort of funny.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/04/natalia-grace-docuseries-hbo-discovery-ukrainian-orphan-con-artist
Sat, 22 Mar 2025 17:47:40 -0700
zerosugar from private IP
Reply #18780882
i think children need to stay with their biological parents as long as they are not abusive. if the parents are not
fit or are too young to be parents then relatives like grandparents or aunts and uncles should take them. most people have relatives out there. its sad when
there are families who will not step up. every effort should be made to place the child with a biological relative.
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