A white couple was arrested and set for trial later this year after their four adopted Black children were found locked in a shed and used as “slaves” in their West Virginia home, according to reports.

Donald Ray Lantz and Jeanne Kay Whitefeather were arraigned on 16 counts each accusing them of civil rights violations, human trafficking, forced labor, gross child neglect, and falsifying an application seeking a public defender.

The indictment stated that Lantz and Whitefeather forced, threatened, and interfered with “the free exercise and enjoyment of any right and privilege” of the four children.

Authorities began investigating after they received a call to the home in October 2023 from someone expressing concern about the children’s welfare. Sheriff’s deputies forced their way into a shed next to the home. According to a criminal complaint, the children were deprived of adequate food and hygienic care, and the room had no running water or bathroom facilities.

“I would just say that because the indictment includes a civil rights violation, that there’s definitely a racial element to the case,” Kanawha County Assistant Prosecutor Madison Tuck said in a statement on Wednesday (June 26).

The couple is being held at the South Central Regional Jail, while their trial is set for Sept. 9, 2024. Circuit Judge MaryClaire Akers expressed shock after a grand jury indicted the couple in May, saying at a June 11 arraignment, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen an indictment like this in all of my time,” according to WCHS-TV.