CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A Sissonville woman accused of locking her two adoptive children in a shed last year will remain on home confinement after previously posting a $200,000 bond.
Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers on Tuesday denied a request from Mark Plants, an attorney representing Jeanne Whitefeather.
“I am not inclined to lift the home confinement provision of Mrs. Whitefeather’s bond,” Akers said.
Whitefeather, 61, and her husband Donald Ray Lantz, 63, were each charged with felony gross child neglect creating a substantial risk of injury.
The couple was taken into custody in Oct. 2023 after a neighbor reported the two teenagers were locked in a shed outside a home on Cheyenne Lane in Sissonville.
Akers said it would be irresponsible to allow Whitefeather to be released on anything other than home confinement.
“I do find that they had only lived in Kanawha County a short time. They had moved here from another state. They had property in other states. They had family in other states. I don’t think it’s much of a jump to say she is a flight risk,” Akers said.
Jeanne Whitefeather, charged with locking two of her adoptive children in a Sissonville shed, was back in Kanawha County Circuit Court today. Judge Akers denied a request from her attorney to lift her home confinement. She and her husband each posted a $200,000 bond in February. pic.twitter.com/ofdPvjZu2Y
— Carrie Hodousek (@CarrieHodousek) April 30, 2024
The defense for Whitefeather previously also had her request to have bond lowered from $200,000 to $50,000 denied. Plants argued there was not a proper investigation when Whitefeather was arrested.
Prosecutors said the children were in poor living conditions.
All five of their children are now in the care of Child Protective Services.