Orange County: Man who escaped from jail is found guilty of kidnapping, torture of dispensary owner
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- An Orange County jury on Friday announced multiple guilty verdicts against a 40-year-old man charged in connection with the kidnapping and sexual mutilation of a marijuana dispensary owner in Newport Beach.
Hossein Nayeri was found guilty of two counts of kidnapping and one count of torture, all felonies. He was accused of committing the crimes with the help of two friends, Kyle Handley and Ryan Kevorkian, on Oct. 2, 2012.
According to prosecutors, Handley and Nayeri, a Marine Corps veteran, supplied marijuana to the mutilated victim's dispensary. The defendants allegedly kidnapped the man and his female roommate under the mistaken belief that the dispensary owner had buried $1 million in the Mojave Desert.
MORE: Inmates documented 2016 Orange County jail escape
The trio is accused of torturing the man - identified only by his first name in court proceedings due to the nature of the crime - by beating, using a Taser and burning him with a blowtorch during the drive to the desert.
Upon arriving at the location, the Orange County District Attorney's Office said, Nayeri and his accomplices poured bleach on the dispensary owner and cut off his penis in an effort to force him to disclose the exact whereabouts of the purported $1 million. The two victims, their hands and feet bound with zip ties, were then abandoned in the remote location.
The woman was able to make her way to a road and flag down a passing vehicle. The suspects were later arrested.
The jury has been unable to unanimously agree that Nayeri participated in the genital mutilation. It has yet to be decided whether he will be tried on that charge.
While awaiting trial in the case, Nayeri gained additional infamy as part of a crew of three Orange County inmates who escaped jail in 2016 and triggered an eight-day manhunt that attracted national attention. Charges are still pending in that case, in which Nayeri is also accused of kidnapping a man.
His sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 11. Prosecutors expect Nayeri will spend life in prison, without the possibility of parole.
