Hossein Nayeri, one of three suspects charged in the gruesome torture and sexual mutilation of a Newport Beach medical marijuana dispensary owner, will be arraigned today at Orange County's Superior Courthouse. The last of the defendants to be charged, Nayeri fled to his native Iran, which has no extradition treaty with the United States, but authorities were able to lure him to the Czech Republic, where they arrested him.
He arrived in Orange County on Sept. 15 and faces charges of aggravated mayhem, torture and residential burglary. As the Weekly first reported last year, two other suspects have already been arrested in what sounds like a scene ripped straight out of Scarface or an episode of Breaking Bad.
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In October 2012, when the victim (whose name has not been released by authorities) allegedly took several marijuana growers to Las Vegas. Kyle Shirakawa Handley, one of those growers, is alleged to have told the three other defendants–Ryan Anthony Kervorkian, Naomi Josette Kervorkian and Nayeri–that the owner was extremely rich. The defendants then surveilled the owner for several weeks, noting that he was taking numerous trips to the desert.
They apparently believed that he'd buried a large amount of cash in the desert and on Oct. 2, 2012, Kevorkian allegedly kidnapped the victim and his girlfriend, zip-tied his wrists together and beat him. They stole a large quantity of cash from his home, stuffed the couple in a van and drove to the desert location where they believed he'd hidden more money.
There, the defendants allegedly tortured the victim with a blow torch, cutting off his penis and pouring bleach on him to destroy evidence. They left the girlfriend unharmed, however, and she managed to run for help, flagging down a Kern County sheriff's deputy. Officers arrested Handley shortly thereafter, also discovering evidence tying the suspects to the crime. The Kervorkians were arrested in Fresno, and Nayeri, who spent several months in Iran, was arrested in Prague, Czech Republic, on Nov. 7, 2013, while flying to visit relatives in Spain.
All four defendants face life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.
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. Twitter: @NickSchou. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
Award-winning investigative journalist Nick Schou is Editor of OC Weekly. He is the author of Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack Cocaine Controversy Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb (Nation Books 2006), which provided the basis for the 2014 Focus Features release starring Jeremy Renner and the L.A. Times-bestseller Orange Sunshine: The Brotherhood of Eternal Love’s Quest to bring Peace, Love and Acid to the World, (Thomas Dunne 2009). He is also the author of The Weed Runners (2013) and Spooked: How the CIA Manipulates the Media and Hoodwinks Hollywood (2016).