CHARLESTON – A Sissonville couple convicted last month of child neglect, human trafficking and more have been sued by one of their adopted children.
The plaintiff, identified only as S.W., filed the complaint February 27 in Kanawha Circuit Court against Donald Lantz and Jeanna Whitefeather. The couple was convicted January 31 on locking three adopted children inside a closed-off area of a barn on their Sissonville property.
Whitefeather was found guilty of 19 counts, including forced labor, civil rights violations, abuse and gross neglect. Lantz was found guilty of 16 counts, including human trafficking, neglect and forced labor. He was found not guilty of four counts of civil rights violations.
diTrapano
| File photo
The couple, who are white, were accused of mistreating their adopted Black children by locking them in a shed, forcing them to sleep on the floor and use buckets as toilets and more. The couple was arrested in October 2023 after neighbors saw Lantz lock the oldest girl and her brother in the shed before leaving the property. A Kanawha County Sheriff’s deputy had to use a crowbar to get them out.
“We are going to turn over every stone in every state to make sure these innocent children have compensation for the horrific treatment visited upon them by their foster parents and the authorities in charge of their placement and care,” L. Dante diTrapano, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiff, told The West Virginia Record.
According to the complaint, S.W. was adopted by Lantz and Whitefeather in 2017 in Minnesota. They later moved to the State of Washington in 2019 before moving to Sissonville in May 2023. The children ranged in age from 5 to 16 when the moved to West Virginia.
“S.W. experienced shocking and severe physical and emotional abuse and neglect while under the care of the defendants following her adoption until such time as S.W. was removed from defendants’ care by authorities in October of 2023,” the complaint states. “Defendants would deny S.W. food and/or water for days at a time; defendants would violently strike S.W.’s head if defendants perceived S.W. was not listening to them; and defendants would not permit S.W. to sleep inside their house, and instead required S.W. to sleep outside in a tent or in an outbuilding, whether it be snowing, raining, very cold or very hot.”
S.W. says she has suffered severe and permanent physical and emotional injuries and damages.
She sues the couple for intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, battery and false imprisonment. She says she has medical expenses and has been deprived of the enjoyment of life as well as suffering annoyance, embarrassment, humiliation and inconvenience.
S.W. seeks actual damages, consequential damages, exemplary damages, punitive damages, court costs, attorney fees, pre- and post-judgment interests and other relief.
In the criminal complaint, deputies said a 9-year-old girl was found alone crying in a loft with no protection from falling, and another child was with Lantz when he eventually returned. Deputies later were led to the couple’s youngest daughter. Deputies said the children were found in dirty clothes and smelling of body odor, deputies said, and the eldest boy was found barefoot with what appeared to be sores on his feet.
During the criminal trial, Kanawha County prosecutors also showed racist text messages they said were from Whitefeather, who denied writing them. The oldest daughter testified the children were cursed at “all the time” and that Whitefeather used racist language.
Whitefeather faces a maximum of 215 years in prison, and Lantz could receive up to 75 years. Bond has been revoked for both of them. Sentencing is set for 10 a.m. March 19.
In the civil case, S.W. is being represented by diTrapano, David H. Carriger and Timothy D. Houston of Calwell Luce diTrapano in Charleston and by Ben Salango of Salango Law in Charleston. The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Richard D. Linsday.
Kanawha Circuit Court case number 25-C-269