Four people have been arrested in connection with the kidnapping, torture, and sexual mutilation of a pot dispensary owner whom they believed had buried large amounts of cash in the desert, authorities announced Friday.
Ryan Anthony Kevorkian, 34, and Naomi Josette Kevorkian, 33, were taken into custody Friday in Fresno by detectives from the Newport Beach Police Department.
Hossein Nayeri, 34, was arrested Thursday by FBI agents in the Czech Republic. The fourth defendant, Kyle Shirakawa Handley, 34, has been in custody since last October.
At the time of the crime, the unidentified victim owned a lucrative marijuana dispensary business, according to a news release from the Newport Beach police.
In 2012, he took several pot growers to Las Vegas for an extravagant and expensive weekend. Prosecutors allege Handley was among the growers who participated in the trip.
When he got back, Handley allegedly told his friends Nayeri and Ryan Kevorkian that the victim was extremely wealthy and together they devised a plan to kidnap and rob the victim, prosecutors said.
On Oct. 2, 2012, Handley, Nayeri, and Ryan Kevorkian are accused of going to the victim’s home where they tied him up and tortured him. The victim and his girlfriend were then driven into the desert where the torture continued.
According to police, the defendants burned the victim with a blow torch and sexually mutilated him by cutting off his penis.
After they were finished the attackers allegedly poured bleach on the victim in an apparent effort to destroy any DNA evidence.
In a final act of depravity, police said Handley, Nayeri, and Ryan Kevorkian took the victim’s penis with them as they fled so that it could never be reattached.
The victim and his girlfriend, who was unhurt, were left on the side of the road. Authorities the unidentified woman ran over a mile in the dark, while still bound with zip ties, and flagged down a police car.
All four defendants were charged with two felony counts of kidnapping for ransom and one felony count each of aggravated mayhem, torture, and first degree residential burglary, with a sentencing enhancement for inflicting great bodily injury.
All are being held without bail and face a maximum sentence of life in state prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.
