2nd Arrest Made in Alleged Racial Attack on Teen

A 20-year-old Huntington Beach man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder early Saturday in connection with the Aug. 4 attack on a black Santa Margarita High School student, an incident that is being investigated as a possible hate crime, authorities said.

Derek Thomas Jones was arrested about 1:15 a.m. in the 25000 block of Sawmill Lane in Lake Forest, said Lt. William Francis of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. A 16-year-old Lake Forest boy, who was not identified because of his age, was arrested shortly after the attack.

Investigators said additional arrests are expected.

The victim, 15-year-old Ruben Charles Vaughn of Tustin, was beaten and stabbed with an unknown weapon when he and a friend arrived at a party in Portola Hills Aug. 4. A racial slur was reportedly shouted during the attack, authorities said.

Vaughn’s friend, a 16-year-old Lake Forest boy who is white, was also punched and sprayed with a chemical, authorities said.

Vaughn’s stepfather, Melvin Aaron, has charged that his son was lured to the party, isolated from the group and singled out as a target. He said Vaughn, a standout football player who cracked the starting lineup last year as a freshman, was involved in three verbal and physical incidents at the school in which race was a factor.