Two West Virginia teens were locked inside a cramped backyard shed without running water or a working bathroom by their adoptive parents — with their mother telling deputies the kids “like it.”
A 16-year-old girl and her 14-year-old brother were freed by authorities Monday evening after they were “locked inside a barn,” since around 6 a.m. the same day, Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office said in a criminal complaint reported on by WSAZ.
Another small child who was crying was found locked away inside the home and was rescued by authorities while adoptive parents Donald Ray Lantz and Jeanne Jay Whitefeather weren’t home, the sheriff’s office said.
The shocking discoveries came after deputies were called for a welfare check at the home.
The teen girl told deputies that she and her brother were only given food when they were first put into the 20×14 foot space and were typically left in the shed for long periods of time, according to the criminal complaint.
The siblings were found wearing dirty clothes with the teen boy not wearing shoes and with sores on his feet, authorities alleged.
There were no windows, beds or water in the shed, the complaint states. It only allegedly had an RV toilet on a floor covered in black tarp, and a single table and chair with a camera in the top left corner of the room, WSAZ reported.
The small child locked inside the home was spotted by deputies through a window and appeared to be only 5 or 6, the criminal complaint states.
“I observed the child crying and close to the railing of an approximately 15-foot drop from the loft,” the criminal complaint states. “Due to the distressed condition of the child and risk of the child falling, forced entry was made to secure the child.”
Lantz, 63, and Whitefeather, 61, arrived hours later that night and were met by authorities.
Whitefeather admitted to deputies that children were left abandoned in the shed, but insisted “they like it,” WCHS reported, also citing the complaint.
Lantz and Whitefeather, of Sissonville, were arrested and charged with felony charges of gross child neglect creating a substantial risk of injury.
The three children were taken by child services.