ALISO VIEJO, Orange County — A mother is facing two felony charges after prosecutors say she allowed her teenage son to ride an illegal high-speed electric motorcycle that struck and seriously injured an 81-year-old man, a case Orange County officials are holding up as a warning to parents across Southern California.

The case centers on an e-motorbike, the kind of high-powered electric motorcycle that’s been showing up on suburban streets and bike paths in growing numbers across the state. These aren’t the slow pedal-assist bikes you see outside a coffee shop. Some can hit 50 miles per hour or faster, and they’re illegal for minors to operate on public roads under California law.

Orange County prosecutors didn’t name the teen publicly. They did charge his mother.

She faces two felony counts connected to the crash in Aliso Viejo, according to the LA Times. The 81-year-old victim suffered serious injuries. The district attorney’s office declined to specify the exact charges in public statements, but the decision to prosecute a parent, rather than just pursue juvenile proceedings against the teen, signals a deliberate strategy.

That strategy is parental accountability. Prosecutors in Orange County have made clear they won’t treat these crashes as simple accidents when an adult knowingly let a child onto one of these bikes.

“We are committed to holding parents accountable when they allow their children to illegally ride these high-speed, electric motorcycles,” prosecutors said in a statement tied to the case.

The Aliso Viejo case isn’t isolated. E-bikes and e-motorbikes have flooded California’s consumer market over the past several years, and enforcement has struggled to keep pace with the sheer volume of riders, many of them teenagers. Cities from San Diego to Sacramento have fielded complaints about minors on high-powered electric bikes running stop signs, cutting through pedestrian zones, and hitting speeds that make a collision genuinely life-threatening.

California law draws a line between pedal-assist e-bikes, which are legal for teens 16 and older under certain conditions, and motorized electric motorcycles, which require a license, registration, and must meet vehicle equipment standards. The bikes that concern law enforcement most aren’t the low-speed commuter models. They’re throttle-operated machines that look like motorcycles and perform like them too, sold through online retailers and sometimes modified after purchase to bypass speed governors.

For an elderly pedestrian, getting hit by one of those machines can mean broken bones, head trauma, or worse.

Parents often don’t know what they’re buying. That’s a real problem, and retailers don’t always make the legal classification obvious. But prosecutors say “I didn’t know” won’t be a sufficient defense when an adult purchases one of these bikes, hands it to a minor, and a collision results.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles classifies motorized electric motorcycles as motor vehicles requiring registration and a valid driver’s license, regardless of how a retailer markets them.

The Aliso Viejo mother’s case will move through Orange County Superior Court. If convicted on both felony counts, she faces the possibility of prison time, not just a fine or probation. That exposure is what makes this prosecution unusual and what prosecutors clearly want other parents to hear about.

Local law enforcement agencies have been trying to educate the public about the distinction between legal e-bikes and illegal e-motorbikes, with mixed results. The California Highway Patrol has jurisdiction on many of the roads where these bikes get ridden, and CHP officers have issued citations and impounded bikes, but criminal prosecution of parents is a newer, sharper tool.

Whether Orange County’s approach spreads to other counties depends partly on whether it produces results. If a felony conviction comes out of this case, prosecutors in Los Angeles, San Diego, or the Bay Area may follow. If the charges get reduced or dismissed, the deterrent effect weakens considerably.

What’s certain is that the 81-year-old man struck in Aliso Viejo paid a serious physical price for a legal gray zone that California has been slow to close. His injuries, and the felony charges that followed, put a human cost on what often gets dismissed as an enforcement nuisance. Prosecutors in Orange County are betting that charging the mother, not just the kid, is the most direct way to make other parents think twice before handing over the keys to one of these machines.