By the time a 17-year-old allegedly led Newport Beach police on a chase this May, his electric motorcycles already had a file. An officer had found him hiding in bushes in 2023. Another had tackled him off an e-moto on Halloween night in 2024, among trick-or-treaters. His e-motos had been impounded at least twice. One had been sold at a lien auction.
In May, prosecutors say, he was on one again: a Sur-Ron, at more than 40 mph, going around pedestrians on sidewalks and riding the wrong way down streets.
Now the Orange County District Attorney’s Office has charged his parents.
Hulin Guo and Xiaomin Wang each face one misdemeanor count of child endangerment, one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and an infraction for allowing a minor to drive a motor vehicle without a license, according to a release the DA’s office issued Oct. 21. Theirs is one of six new cases filed by the office’s RIDE SAFELY unit, which prosecutes adults who allow children to ride e-motos on public roads. The charges are allegations, and none of the defendants has been convicted.
The office titled the announcement “Six More Orange County Parents Charged.” The six cases name seven defendants. Six of them are parents. The seventh is a 33-year-old man accused of letting his 15-year-old brother ride.
What the county says it already tried
The Guo-Wang case reads less like a single incident than a three-year log. According to the DA’s full release:
- Sept. 23, 2023: The boy ignored an officer’s commands to stop and was later found hiding in bushes. Officers told his mother the e-moto was illegal and dangerous.
- Halloween 2024: At 15, he rode an e-moto recklessly among trick-or-treaters until an officer tackled him off it. Officers warned both parents when they came to pick him up.
- Between incidents: His e-motos were impounded at least twice, and one was sold at a lien auction.
- May 9, 2026: Now 17, he led Newport Beach police on a pursuit at more than 40 mph on a Sur-Ron, riding around pedestrians on sidewalks, going the wrong way and refusing to stop. Police later identified him and served a search warrant at the family’s home.
The release does not say how the teen came to be riding an e-moto again after the auction, or who bought the one that was sold.
Each parent faces up to one year in Orange County Jail if convicted on all counts. The DA’s release spells the parents’ names more than one way; The Auto Wire is using the spelling in the case caption, People v. Hulin Guo and Xiaomin Wang (Case No. 26HM07320).
The father was on a bicycle
In Orange, the alleged arrangement was more of a family outing.
On March 22, an Orange police officer saw Dan Mircea Rezmives’ 12-year-old son riding a Sur-Ron Light Bee on a public street while Rezmives rode a bicycle, prosecutors say. The same officer had previously warned both of them that riding an e-moto on city streets was illegal, according to the DA’s office.
Rezmives said the Sur-Ron had been a Christmas gift for his son. Prosecutors say the machine can reach about 50 mph. The adult in the outing was the one doing the pedaling.
Rezmives is charged with one misdemeanor count each of child endangerment and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, plus the unlicensed-driver infraction (Case No. 26CM08723). He faces up to a year in county jail.
Legally, these are not bicycles
The cases turn on a distinction California draws sharply, even if the hardware blurs it. Under state law, an e-bike has working pedals and a motor of no more than 750 watts, with motor assistance that cuts out at 20 or 28 mph depending on its class. A two-wheeled electric machine with a straddle seat, no manufacturer pedals and the ability to go faster on motor power alone is something else: an off-highway motorcycle, according to a California Highway Patrol information bulletin.
Those machines are barred from public roads. Riding one on a street can bring violations for operating an unregistered vehicle, riding without a motorcycle endorsement and riding without insurance, the CHP says. The DA’s office says children under 16 are legally barred from riding e-motos at all. Florida drew a similar line in the case of an Oviedo 11-year-old and a 4,500-watt electric dirt bike earlier this month.
The rest of the docket
The other four cases, as described by prosecutors, involve two more police pursuits and two collisions with pickup trucks.
Garden Grove. On April 8, Tuan Nguyen’s 13-year-old son led Garden Grove police on a pursuit at up to 40 mph on a Sur-Ron Light Bee X, running red lights, riding the wrong way into traffic and refusing a traffic stop, according to the DA. The pursuit ended when he crashed the bike into a police vehicle. Nguyen is charged with one misdemeanor count of child endangerment (Case No. 26WM10291).
La Palma. On May 27, a 15-year-old fled La Palma police on an e-motorcycle at about 40 mph, ignoring amplified commands, running red lights and nearly hitting several cars before crashing into bushes, prosecutors say. The bike belonged to his brother, Jose De Jesus Ramirezbarragan, 33, who is accused of letting him ride it. Ramirezbarragan is charged with one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor (Case No. 26NM11591).
Yorba Linda, May 23. Maria Dolores Roehling’s 9-year-old son was speeding on an e-moto capable of more than 47 mph when he was hit by a pickup truck, according to the DA. Prosecutors say the boy’s Instagram accounts showed him doing wheelies on residential streets and included posts about crashing the e-moto a few weeks earlier. Roehling is charged with one felony count of child endangerment and the unlicensed-driver infraction (Case No. 26NF5325). She faces up to six years in state prison if convicted on all counts.
Yorba Linda, June 30. Alex Li’s 11-year-old son collided with a pickup truck while riding an e-moto with a 1,200-watt motor, capable of more than 33 mph, prosecutors say. The boy suffered broken bones and an arterial bleed. Li is charged with one misdemeanor count of child endangerment (Case No. 26NM11589).
Why prosecutors are charging adults
The filings follow charges announced a day earlier against the parents of 13-year-old Benson Nguyen, who died in May after losing control of his e-moto and hitting a light pole in Garden Grove. The office has also charged a Lake Forest mother with involuntary manslaughter after her 14-year-old son hit and killed an 81-year-old Vietnam veteran on an e-moto; prosecutors say she had been repeatedly warned. She faces up to seven years and eight months in state prison if convicted.
The DA’s office says the RIDE SAFELY unit, led by Senior Deputy District Attorney Noor Hasan, has charged 12 parents since January. The office cites more than 125 deaths nationally attributed to e-bikes and e-motos, says injuries in Southern California have risen more than 430% over four years, and says e-bike and e-moto injuries are now the leading reason Orange County children go to the emergency room. Children ages 11 to 14 account for 61.7% of e-moto crashes, according to the state’s SWITRS crash database as cited by the office.
“We don’t want to have to prosecute parents – we want to save kids’ lives,” District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in the release.
Where the cases stand
All seven defendants are presumed innocent. The DA’s release did not list arraignment dates or attorneys for the defendants.
For one family, the county had already tried the obvious fix: take the motorcycle away. It did that at least twice.
Taking the bikes didn’t work, so the county is charging the parents. Is that real accountability, or just the only lever left?
Sources: Orange County District Attorney’s Office release, Oct. 21, 2026; California Highway Patrol information bulletin on electric bicycles and other devices.
Image credits: Lead image: Talaria Sting Pro electric motorcycle, photo by Bene Riobó via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; not a vehicle involved in these cases. Body image: Orange County Central Justice Center, photo by Chris Jepsen, courtesy Orange County Archives, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 2.0.