LAKE FOREST : 4th Male Accused in Teen’s Beating

Sheriff’s deputies have arrested a fourth male suspected of taking part in the beating of a black teen-ager three weeks ago, an attack being probed as a possible hate crime.

Russell T. Scarce, 19, of Lake Forest, was arrested Wednesday on a warrant after returning home from an out-of-state trip, said Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Lt. Tom Garner.

Garner said Scarce was booked on suspicion of assault with a caustic chemical and assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the Aug. 5 attack on Ruben Vaughan, 15, of Tustin, and a white friend who went with him to Portola Hills for what they were told was a party.

Vaughan, a sophomore at Santa Margarita High School, was beaten and stabbed with an unknown weapon and his friend was punched and sprayed with pepper spray when met by a group of as many as 30 people in a Portola Hills cul-de-sac.

Authorities said someone reportedly shouted a racial slur during the attack and are investigating whether the attack was a hate crime.

Two juveniles and a Huntington Beach man also have been charged with taking part in the beating. A Costa Mesa man was charged with dissuading a witness from testifying, but not for the attack itself.