An Effingham County Grand Jury indicted five individuals for their alleged role in the stabbing incident that occurred at the Edgewood American Legion in late January.
Those indicted are 22-year-old Sanda Buening, 23-year-old Dylan White, and 21-year-old Brandon Smith, all from Mason, and 20-year-old Hayden Limes of Edgewood, and 21-year-old Jacob White of Dieterich. Buening and White are charged with both Battery and Mob Action, while the other three are charged with just Mob Action.
The incident from which the charges stem occurred on January 31st at approximately 12:38am, during which the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office was notified of a large scale fight at the American Legion in Edgewood.
Upon the arrival of Sheriff’s Deputies it was determined the subjects who initiated the fight had fled the scene. The responding units found three individuals who were injured in the altercation, all receiving non-life threatening knife wounds. At that point, an extensive investigation was begun by the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office which revealed at least five individuals participated in the incident.
Jacob White was arrested soon after, on February 2, for allegedly stabbing the three individuals at the Legion. He was then indicted two weeks later on three counts of aggravated battery involving a deadly weapon. These charges remain in effect, in addition to the recent indictment. White remains in the custody of the Effingham County Sheriff’s Office in lieu of $50,000.00 bond.
On the heels of the indictments, Effingham County Resident Judge Kimberly Koester issued arrest warrants for the other four individuals involved, and also an additional charge of mob action for Jacob C. White. The four suspects recently indicted have bond set at $20,000 each.
Effingham County Sheriff David Mahon and Effingham County State’s Attorney Bryan Kibler would like to thank the victims, witnesses and the public for their patience in this lengthy investigation. Sheriff Mahon stated “that even though the injuries in this fight were not serious, a crime of this nature will not be tolerated in our community. We will bring the full resources of our Department to bear in investigating an incident of this magnitude.” The Sheriff further stated that “the successful resolution to this incident was a direct result of the quick response of the responding units and a thorough and comprehensive investigation by our detective section.”