Indictment alleges West Virginia couple used adopted Black children as ‘slaves,’ judge says

Associated Press

A couple in West Virginia is set for trial later this year after some of their adopted children were found locked in a shed. Donald Ray Lantz and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather face charges including civil rights violations, human trafficking and forced labor. Lantz and Whitefeather are white. Four children whose initials are referenced in an indictment are Black. A judge says the indictment alleges the children were used as ‘‘slaves.’’  Two teenagers were found in a shed next to the home last October, while a 9-year-old girl was alone in a loft at the home. The couple remain in jail and face a Sept. 9 trial.