RAPID CITY, S.D. – The Pennington County State’s Attorney has released the names of six suspects charged with rape regarding the Mitchell Legion Baseball team.
18-year-old Hudson Michael Haley, 19-year-old Landon William Waddell, 17-year-old Peyton Douglas Mandel, 18-year-old Lincoln Charles Bates, 17-year-old Carter Ryan Miller and 17-year-old Karter Marcus Sibson each face second degree rape charges and aiding and abetting second degree rape for their role in an alleged assault that occurred while the Mitchell Legion baseball team was in Rapid City for a tournament in June of 2023.
Haley and Waddell face additional counts of second degree rape and aiding and abetting because the charges involve two separate victims.
Pennington County State’s Attorney Lara Roetzel said that she believes that additional charges will be coming for those involved with Mitchell baseball who knew about the alleged assault and did not properly report it. Any charges against those involved with the program who failed to properly report would be under the jurisdiction of Davison county.
Second degree rape is defined by South Dakota law as sexual penetration of any person through the use of force, coercion or threats of immediate and great bodily harm accompanied by apparent power of execution.
Roetzel also said that they have reason to believe that this case is not an isolated incident because calling the incident in question ‘hazing’ or an ‘initiation’ connotates that this type of incident has happened before.
She hopes former players would feel comfortable coming forward if the alleged crimes had happened in years prior.
The Mitchell baseball season was placed on pause once the allegations and investigation came to light, and ultimately terminated in July.
