Man says he was ‘railroaded’ for abduction, torture of OC marijuana dispensary owner

Hossein Nayeri testified Tuesday, Aug. 6, that he escaped from county jail while awaiting trial for the abduction, torture and sexual mutilation of a marijuana dispensary owner because he felt he was being “railroaded” by law enforcement.

During a full day’s worth of testimony in a Newport Beach courthouse that ranged from combative to tearful, Nayeri continued to deny playing any role in the headline-grabbing kidnapping and accused police of planting his DNA in a vehicle tied to the abduction.

Prosecutors allege that Nayeri teamed with two friends from Clovis West High School in Fresno — Kyle Handley and Ryan Kevorkian — to abduct the dispensary owner from a Newport Beach home in order to find a non-existent $1 million they wrongly believed he had buried in the desert.

Nayeri admitted to spending months surveilling the dispensary owner — who the Register is not naming due to the nature of the crimes — with the aid of GPS units and surveillance cameras. Nayeri said Handley, his partner in a marijuana grow operation, asked him to keep an eye on the dispensary owner, alleging the man owed Handley several hundred thousand dollars. The dispensary owner has denied that he owed Handley any money.

Nayeri, during his time on the stand in his trial, has continually denied he was aware of any plot to abduct or torture the dispensary owner.

“I didn’t have a freaking clue it was going to happen,” Nayeri said.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy noted that witnesses have described Handley and Kevorkian as being “morons” and Nayeri as being “very intelligent.”

“You planned this whole thing, didn’t you Mr. Nayeri?” Murphy said of the abduction.

“You don’t even believe that,” Nayeri responded.

While awaiting trial, Nayeri is accused of masterminding a brazen escape, along with two other inmates, from an Orange County jail. All three were caught within eight days and returned behind bars.

“If you are so innocent, why would you escape from jail?,” Murphy asked Nayeri.

“Wouldn’t you, if you had been railroaded as bad as I?” Nayeri responded. “You have no idea what goes on behind the closed scenes. The real American justice. It’s a fantasy you are painting for people. I think we both know that.”

Nayeri verbally sparred with Murphy throughout his testimony, drawing numerous warnings from Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregg L. Prickett.

“Truth, truth please,” Nayeri said to Murphy at one point.

“Mr. Nayeri, do I need to admonish you again?” the judge interjected.

“Your honor, he is shoving information down my throat,” Nayeri said.

The prosecutor noted that the surveillance equipment used to monitor the dispensary owner was purchased by Kevorkian’s then-wife using gift cards, and was registered under false names.

“So this surveillance you’ve been doing for 32 weeks, with equipment under a fake name, you didn’t know about anything nefarious going on?” Murphy said.

“No,” Nayeri responded.

On Oct. 2, 2012, three masked men broke into the Newport Beach home where the dispensary owner, as well as the girlfriend of the man who owned the residence, were sleeping. The armed intruders forced the man and woman into a van, then, during a two-hour-plus dive to the Mojave desert the men beat the dispensary owner, repeatedly shocked him with a Taser, whipped him with rubber piping and burned him with a blow torch.

Once in the desert, the men cut off the dispensary owner’s penis, and left he and the woman, still bound and blindfolded, behind. The woman got free and found medical assistance for the dispensary owner, but the body part was never found.

Murphy asked Nayeri why the men took the penis with them, rather than leave it with the dispensary owner where it could be re-attached.

“I’m not going to give you an answer,” Nayeri told the prosecutor. “You don’t deserve an answer. Nice try.”

A neighbor who lived next to the Newport Beach home provided police with a license plate of a suspicious vehicle that had been at the residence prior to the abduction. That led investigators to a truck owned by Handley, where they found a glove with DNA tied to Nayeri.

“Is it your contention that glove with your DNA on it was planted by the Newport Beach police department?” Murphy asked Nayeri.

“Absolutely,” he responded.

Nayeri fled to Iran after Handley’s arrest. His then-wife, Cortney Shegerian, ultimately cooperated authorities, identifying the people she alleged took part in the kidnapping and persuading Nayeri to leave Iran to visit her in another country where he could be arrested and extradited.

Later in the day, when being questioned by his own attorney, Nayeri cried as he looked over writings he had made during what he described as an emotionally turbulent time in his life.

Handley has already been convicted for his role in the abduction and torture, and sentenced to four life terms behind bars. Kevorkian is awaiting trial.