2 Teen-Agers Face Charges in 2 Beatings in Coto de Caza : Courts: The youths, who face assault counts, were among a group of 100 to 200 that sparked melee last Halloween, officials say.

The Orange County district attorney’s office has charged two teen-agers with assault and battery in connection with the beating of two adult residents of this private, gated enclave, where prosecutors say a mob of 100 to 200 youths created a mini-riot last Halloween night.

Both male suspects, ages 16 and 17, live in the area.

The 17-year-old is accused of beating race-car driver Rocky Moran, who suffered extensive injuries that he says may have cut short a promising sports career. The youth faces felony assault charges.

The 16-year-old is charged with misdemeanor assault against Bernard Moran, an Orange County real estate attorney (and no relation to Rocky Moran). Both victims live in Coto de Caza, a quiet community of rolling hills and greenbelts known for its elite golf course and a lake favored by swans.

The two youths are the only participants in the Halloween incident to face criminal charges so far. The two Morans are seeking civil damages totaling nearly $500,000 against at least 10 youths allegedly involved in the incident, their parents, the enclave’s security company and two homeowners’ associations responsible for security.

“It’s turned our lives upside down,” Bernard Moran said. “It’s really made me a very paranoid and very cautious person. It took away a lot of the admiration I’ve always had for young people. I drive through Coto now and think every kid I see lurking on a street corner may be a bad kid who’s after me or my children.”

The incident has had a similar effect on other residents, who say they moved to the secluded valley surrounded by low hills for its inherent calm and a crime rate that Sheriff’s Department officials say remains one of the county’s lowest. The average price of a home in Coto de Caza is about $400,000, though some sprawling estates there are valued at up to $6 million.

But Bernard Moran said the serenity he had come to cherish was irrevocably shattered last Halloween.

He and Rocky Moran were assaulted in separate incidents on the same night on the same street, according to authorities. Both men exited their cars in what investigators call a fruitless attempt to prevent the mob of teen-agers from encircling and blocking the path of their automobiles.

In each case, a verbal confrontation soon became physical, with some of the youths striking both men with their fists, while others went at them with sticks and stones, according to sheriff’s deputies and prosecutors. Because the suspects are minors, the district attorney has declined to release their names.

Robert Graham, a Los Angeles attorney representing one of the families accused in the Morans’ lawsuit, said the incident has been blown out of proportion by the plaintiffs, who he suggested needlessly provoked the incident.

“Harsh language was used by the adults toward the kids,” Graham said. “I believe there was an offer to engage in combat with the kids by the adults. These are good kids from good families.”

Graham said that both Morans could have handled the incident differently. For instance, he contended Rocky Moran threw the first punch in what became, in his case, a full-scale confrontation.

“When an adult starts hitting a child this age,” Graham said, “they’re going to defend themselves. For no good reason, it became a grabby, pushy, shovy, fall-down-to-the-ground kind of thing.”

Graham said that Bernard Moran is seeking damages of about $76,000, with the bulk of damages involving Rocky Moran, who underwent surgery.

Bernard Moran, 46, said he remembers being attacked by at least nine rock-wielding teen-agers who took offense to his confronting them for having blocked the street and then “smashed me with a combination of fists and rocks.”

He said the attack lasted about a minute “that felt like four hours” and was witnessed by “dozens” of other residents, most of whom were “terrified mothers taking their little ones home from trick-or-treating.”

He said that the mob was composed of males and females but that he was attacked only by males. Several of these have agreed to testify in exchange for immunity, prosecutors said.

Rocky Moran, 45, who has undergone one major shoulder surgery and is facing a second, described his attack by saying: “It was a melee. They just pummeled me.”

At the time of the attack, Bernard Moran was driving one of his children, then aged 9, home from trick-or-treating. Rocky Moran was accompanied by a 4-year-old, prosecutors say, noting that the children witnessed the attacks. Both men say their children have been “traumatized” as a result.

Bernard Moran is the father of three children, ages 17, 14 and 10. On the night of the attack, he suffered a broken rib, a broken ankle, two battered knees, bruised hips and a black eye. He also claims to have occasional loss of memory.

Like Bernard Moran, Rocky Moran is over six feet tall and weighs more than 200 pounds. But as bad as his neighbor’s injuries were, Rocky Moran’s were much worse, according to his attorney, Roger Tomalas.

“His racing career has been interrupted, perhaps permanently,” Tomalas said Thursday. “This has been an extremely tough thing to endure. In fact, it’s changed his life. It’s changed both their lives.”

An Oct. 30 trial has been set for the 17-year-old who faces felony assault charges in connection with Rocky Moran’s injuries.

But it is possible the case may not stop with two suspects.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Carl Biggs, who is prosecuting the youths in Juvenile Court, said this week that “the two minors currently before the court have [criminal] charges pending against them. But, potentially, there are others we’re still considering,” and may yet charge with criminal violations.