West Virginia Supreme Court dismisses appeal of Sissonville couple convicted of trafficking and abusing their adopted children

Charleston, WV (WOAY)- The West Virginia Supreme Court dismissed the appeal of a Sissonville couple convicted in a harrowing human-trafficking and child-abuse case. 

Earlier this year, a jury found Donald Lantz and Jeanne Whitefeather guilty on nearly all counts after a 15-day trial.

The court convicted Lantz of multiple charges, including human trafficking of a minor, using a minor in forced labor, and child neglect.

A jury found Whitefeather guilty on similar counts, including civil-rights violations for which Lantz was acquitted. 

The case began in October 2023, when authorities found the couple’s two oldest adopted children locked inside a shed on their property.

Investigators discovered evidence of long-term abuse and forced labor involving all four of the couple’s adopted children. 

In March, Judge Maryclaire Akers imposed the maximum sentence on each charge to run consecutively.

Akers sentenced Whitefeather to 40 to 215 years in prison, and Lantz earned 30 to 160 years. 

Following the Supreme Court’s dismissal, those convictions and the sentences remain in place.