Fugitive returned to California, accused of cutting off man's penis
SANTA ANA, Calif. -- A man arrested in the Czech Republic and accused of torturing a medical marijuana dispensary owner is back in Southern California to face trial.
Orange County prosecutors say 35-year-old Hossein Nayeri was extradited from Prague this week. He's scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on multiple counts of kidnapping for ransom, aggravated mayhem, torture and burglary.
Nayeri is one of four people accused of attacking the victim at his Newport Beach home and torturing him as they drove him to a desert spot where they believed he had buried cash. Prosecutors alleged they cut off the victim's penis and drove away with the penis so that it couldn't be reattached.
The man survived his injuries.
Nayeri faces up to life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.
The others charged include Kyle Handley, Ryan Anthony Kevorkian and Naomi Josette Kevorkian.
Prosecutors said the victim was a prosperous medical marijuana dispensary owner who took some of his pot suppliers -- including Handley -- to Las Vegas in 2012 for an extravagant weekend.
After the trip, Handley told some friends that the dispensary owner was extremely wealthy and they came up with a plan to kidnap and rob him, according to a statement from the county district attorney's office and Newport Beach police.
Four weeks before the kidnapping, the would-be robbers allegedly began shadowing the dispensary owner, following him on frequent trips he made to the desert outside of Palm Springs.
He went out to discuss a possible investment deal, but the four wrongly believed he was driving there "to bury large amounts of cash," according to the statement.
On Oct. 2, 2012, Handley, Nayeri and Ryan Kevorkian went to the man's Newport Beach home, stole cash, bound and beat him and kidnapped him along with his roommate's girlfriend, then drove them out to a desert spot in a van, authorities contend.
Throughout the drive, they allegedly burned the dispensary owner with a blowtorch.