More Evidence Revealed in Sissonville Trafficking and Forced Labor Case Set for Trial Monday

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — Jeanne Whitefeather and Donald Lantz attended their final pretrial hearing Monday to go over some of the concerns about what evidence and testimony will be allowed to be presented to a jury next week.

Whitefeather and Lantz are charged in a 20 count indictment alleging charges of human trafficking, child abuse and forced child labor along with civil rights violations stemming from the October 2023 discovery of children locked in a shed in Sissonville.

As attorneys debated some of the pretrial details, more evidence about this case emerged both at the hearing and in motions filed before the hearing.

One of those matters involves a previous investigation into alleged abuse related to Whitefeather and Lantz’s treatment of their five adopted children when they lived in Washington before moving to Sissonville.

According to a motion filed by the Kanawha County Prosecutor’s Office to allow abuse evidence in Washington to be used at trial, prosecutors said Whitefeather and Lantz adopted five black siblings from Minnesota in 2018 and moved to Washington state in 2019.

Prosecutors have argued that the two targeted the children because of their race and then used them for forced labor.

Recent court documents filed by prosecutors included photos and videos from Whitefeather’s phone and video from surveillance cameras they kept on the children during their stay in Washington.

According to prosecutors, the alleged abuse began in Washington and was even investigated by the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office and its Okanogan County Department of Children, Youth and Families for a year before moving to Kanawha County.

“Washington Child Protective Services records document ongoing concerns of abuse and neglect from October 2022 to April 2023,” the motion states.

The motion said Whitefeather and Lantz kept the children at a large ranch in Washington where they would be denied bedrooms in the house and forced to sleep in tents until Lantz, with the children, built a “self-contained building” to house them.

Prosecutors said in Washington that they were forced to perform “inappropriate farm work” and endured physical and mental abuse when Whitefeather and Lantz were dissatisfied, including the use of bear spray and cattle whips.

He said the children had to bathe outside and wash their clothes by hand.

The motion also notes that the abuse was particularly bad for one child, identified as LW, who had a mental health condition. Prosecutors said the couple would isolate him from others by locking him in a separate room. The others were taught to be afraid of him and one child was taught to take on the role of “guardian” over him to monitor his actions, according to the motion.

There were instances where two of the children attempted to flee, according to the motion. A girl who tried to flee told investigators she heard Whitefeather fire a gun he was carrying in a holster on his hip.

Motion notes were always returned.

“Upon their return, the defendants further isolated and mistreated the recent escapees. The four child victims learned that neighbors, police, hospital workers, and social workers would not help them escape from the defendants.” , the motion states.

Prosecutors also noted that LW attended a public school, but was withdrawn when people began to suspect neglect.

“Expel LW from public school when child protective services were called because LW was so hungry that school officials were unable to stop her from eating food from trash cans at school,” the motion said.

In court Friday, Kanawha County Deputy Prosecutor Madison Tuck referenced some of the action they have on surveillance video at Washington’s home and from Whitefeather’s phone.

“On Mr. Lantz’s alleged act of hitting a child with a PVC pipe, we know about it only because there is a photograph of it on Ms. Whitefeather’s cell phone taken from her surveillance cameras that they used to promote all their other acts to isolate. and control the children,” he said.

Several times throughout Kanawha County’s motion, notes and interviews from an abuse and neglect investigation in Okanogan County are referenced, but charges were never filed.

In April 2023, the two moved to Sissonville with the children, where court records said that immediately upon their arrival, neighbors began filing reports to CPS about the children being forced to work on the property, stand for long periods of time and using a portable toilet. in the yard.

Then finally, the report of children locked in a barn led officers to the Sissonville home in October 2023, where Lantz and Whitefeather were arrested and later served with a 20-count indictment.

In another motion filed by the Kanawha County Prosecutor’s Office, they point out that video surveillance continued in Sissonville and requested to use the clips they were able to obtain there as evidence.

Mark Plants, the attorney representing Whitefeather, hopes to paint a different picture with text messages, medical records and witnesses at trial that the couple is not racist and did not attack or abuse these children.

He is not opposed to using Washington records because he plans to also use information from Washington, he said.

“They think that this conduct in Washington during those six or seven years is intrinsic to their case. I agree with them. “On the other hand, my client’s conduct in response to this is highly relevant and highly probative,” he said.

Donald Lantz’s attorney, John Balenovich, also plans to withdraw from his stay in Washington, but opposed the use of the abuse investigation since charges were never filed there.

“They’re trying to take things from these records in Washington to fit their narrative,” Balenovich said.

Balenovich also filed a motion to split the trial, meaning two separate trials rather than having Lantz and Whitefeather as co-defendants.

He argued that Whitefeather made a statement to police that could have blamed Lantz and that he would have no opportunity to question her about it since they are “married.”

Balenovich also said a jury could convict him on all 20 counts even if Whitefeather was the only person named on some of them.

However, in response, Tucker argued that there is still no real evidence that Whitefeather and Lantz are actually legally married and that two trials would also mean that the minor victims would have to testify more than once.

In her order issued Friday afternoon, Judge Maryclaire Akers sided with the prosecution and denied the motion to suspend the trial.

“Therefore, this Court finds that the protection of the young victims outweighs Defendant Lantz’s arguments in favor of separation from Defendant Whitefeather,” it said in its order.

Four of the children are expected to testify. Plants said at this point Whitefeather plans to take the stand as well.

Jury selection will begin Monday. Judge Akers said they have about 255 people for possible selection. The trial is expected to last possibly two weeks.