MISSION VIEJO : 3 Teen-Agers Face Charges in Beatings of 2 Girls

Three Mission Viejo High School students have been charged with robbery, kidnaping, felony assault and false imprisonment after they allegedly forced two freshmen girls into a Chevrolet Blazer Wednesday, drove them to a nearby elementary school and beat them up.

Marlena Riordan, 18, was arraigned Friday in Municipal Court in Laguna Niguel and was being held on $50,000 bail. The other teen-agers arrested were both juveniles, 14-year-old and 16-year-old boys, but Sheriff’s Department officials declined to say whether the youths remained in custody.

The antagonism between Riordan and one of the two girls apparently began the first day of school, said Sheriff’s Lt. Ron Wilkerson, when Riordan approached the girl and the two began to argue. During the argument, Riordan allegedly told the 14-year-old that the black Nike’s she was wearing were gang attire and that she should not wear them unless she is in a gang.

But police and school officials doubt the fight was gang-related and were still sorting out what role the shoes played in the dispute.

“At first it sounded like a gang incident, but I honestly cannot find any gang involvement in this,” Wilkinson said. “There are no gangs that we can identify attending Mission Viejo High School, there’s no affiliation claimed by the people involved and nothing to indicate it’s a gang situation at all.”

Wilkinson described the dispute as complicated. “It’s an argument that started with the shoes, but how it progressed was real unclear,” Wilkinson said.

The kidnaping began at the Mission Viejo campus when the 14-year-old victim and her friend were forced into the Blazer and driven to Cordillera Elementary School, where other youths were waiting, Wilkerson said.

“There were a total of eight to 10 in a circle around them, but exactly who took part in the fight isn’t exactly clear.”

After the fight, the 14-year-old girls, who had cuts, bruises and black eyes from the fight, went to a nearby house and one of them called her mother. The mother arrived and flagged down a patrolman, Wilkinson said, and officers located the Blazer with the three teen-agers inside.

Mission Viejo High School Principal Duffy Clark emphatically ruled out gang-related motives for the fight.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous to consider us to have any gangs on campus,” Clark said.

“But we’re going to take a very, very hard position on this issue and we will prosecute to the fullest extent of our ability--that’s consistent with the approach we’ve always taken toward any illegal activity.”