r/news • u/FreeChickenDinner • 4d ago

West Virginia couple charged with trafficking their adopted Black children to be used as ‘slaves,’ authorities allege

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/27/us/west-virginia-adopted-black-children-slaves-reaj/index.html
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u/PresentationNew8080 4d ago edited 4d ago

The children were locked in a small windowless room in the barn with no running water or toilet. The children weren't allowed in the house. After forcing entry into the barn, the police found the children malnourished and filthy. Via OP's CNN Article:

A news release from the sheriff’s office noted that “deputies had to force entry into the barn where they located a juvenile male and juvenile female locked inside an approximate 20x14 foot room.”

“The children had no means to exit the barn on their own, no running water, no bathroom facilities, and were obviously deprived of adequate hygienic care and food,” the release said.

According to the deputy’s sworn statement, “the female juvenile also stated she and her 14-year-old brother were not allowed inside the house.”

“There were no accessible windows in the room or way for the children to exit. If there were a medical emergency or fire, the children would be unable to exit the locked room to safety,” the statement said.

When Whitefeather and Lantz arrived hours later, the deputy wrote, “Ms. Whitefeather made the admission to Det. Alford that the children were left in the shed but stated they ‘like it.’”

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u/Lola-Ugfuglio-Skumpy 4d ago

The cowardice it takes to claim that children like being locked in a sweltering hot barn with no bathroom, running water, food, or means to exit in an emergency just to save your own sorry ass. What a pathetic excuse for a person.

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u/Ducksaucenhotmustard 4d ago

poor kids, how in the world in this day and age does something like this happen.

how fucked in the head do you have to do this to human beings? children?

i hope they somehow find a way to mentally recover

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u/BestReadAtWork 4d ago

It's not that hard for people when they don't consider them human beings.

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u/lewdindulgences 4d ago

Unfortunately there are churches in the US that don't want people to watch certain kids movies because they "encourage interracial marriage", plus school districts that ban various books which mention slavery and cast the Confederacy in a shameful light while the Constitution still legalized slavery for those convicted of federal crimes per the 13th Amendment. It's very possible to find pockets of the US where folks believe these things as the norm they grew up with.

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u/Cloaked42m 4d ago

Home schooling.

Even legit home schoolers refuse all government oversight.

In some states, you just notify the school, and that's it.

No one ever checks on the kids.

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u/AnOpinionatedBalloon 4d ago

Ironic that they now get to see exactly how much the kids liked it but for a much, much longer time. Rot, fuckers