Where Is Hossein Nayeri Now? Michael was kidnapped and tortured by Hossein Nayeri and three of his friends in October 2012. The last defendant in the Marijuana Dispensary Owner Kidnap-Torture Case pleaded guilty in March 2022.
On Friday, Hossein Nayeri was sentenced to life in prison for the kidnapping and mutilation of a marijuana business owner in Southern California. Following a harrowing abduction, he was discovered in the Mojave Desert.
Three of his associates were also caught and imprisoned, including Noami Josette Rhodus, Ryan Anthony Kevorkian, and Kyle Handley.
Where Is Hossein Nayeri Now, Who Did He Kidnap And Torture?
On October 2, 2012, Hossein Nayeri abducted and tortured Michael and Mary Barnes from their home in Newport Beach, California. He is the medicinal marijuana dispensary owner who refused to give his complete identity.
Around 2:30 a.m., Nayeri and two other guys stormed into a Newport Beach residence where the dispensary owner was renting a room.
According to NBC, Michael along with his homeowner Barnes were seized by a group of masked intruders. Prosecutors claimed the guy had a shotgun pointed in his face, and when he tried to shove it away, the assailants began punching him.
Hossein Nayeri convicted in kidnapping and torture of Newport Beach marijuana dispensary owner — https://t.co/g2N6ii6N9f pic.twitter.com/S641t0JZ8Q
— The Daily Pilot (@TheDailyPilot) August 16, 2019
They took them on the 90-minute trip to the Mojave desert, where the assailants beat the guy with a rubber hose and burnt him with a blowtorch.
In the desert, Nayeri and his friends believed the dispensary owner had concealed $1 million in cash. Michael stated that he did not have that much money, but that he would be ready to accompany them to his medical marijuana store and give them roughly $34,000.
“But it wasn’t enough,” Senior Deputy District Attorney Heather Brown stated during Nayeri’s trial.
When he couldn’t acquire the desired money, he tormented Michael and fled, abandoning them in the wilderness.
The report suggested that one of the assailants cut off Michael’s penis.
According to the prosecution, he was subsequently drenched with bleach in an attempt to destroy any DNA evidence. The criminals then drove away with Michael’s penis, abandoning him and Barnes in the desert.
“It’s one thing to cut it off. Ensuring that it is never retrieved and reattached is a level of depravity and cruelty. This man should never be released from jail “said Matt Murphy, the former Orange County senior deputy district attorney who prosecuted Nayeri’s case.
Barnes used the knife left by the kidnappers to cut the zip ties around her feet and made her way to a neighboring highway. A senior deputy sheriff stopped to assist her after noticing her on the roadside with her hands zip-tied behind her back.
And both victims were saved.
Is Hossein Nayeri Still In Prison?
Yes, Hossein Nayeri is still in prison. He was sentenced to life in jail without the chance of parole in October 2020.
Initially, his buddy, Kyle Handley, was detained on the case because Michael’s neighbors offered police a license plate number she thought was suspicious that night.
Following the discovery of more evidence, authorities were able to get a warrant for Handley’s arrest less than a week after the kidnapping.
According to Newport Beach Detectives Sgt. Ryan Peters, Nayeri was linked to the kidnapping after police discovered a glove. It was found in Kyle’s truck and it contained his DNA inside.
However, till then he had already fled to his native home Iran.
Update: Hossein Nayeri and Jonathan Tieu were captured by San Francisco PD, dept. confirms https://t.co/xaIwQM6O4Y pic.twitter.com/rogxlC4jKP
— KTLA (@KTLA) January 30, 2016
However, with the request of the authorities, his wife, Shegerian, quickly re-established communication with Nayeri. She had their phone calls recorded.
Since Iran does not have an extradition treaty with the US, officials wanted to lure Nayeri to a nation where he might be captured and subsequently extradited.
Hence, Shegerian persuaded Nayeri to meet her for a romantic rendezvous in Barcelona, Spain. Peters claims she mailed him a forged passport and a forged green card.
However, Nayeri’s itinerary included a stop in Prague, Czech Republic, a country that also has an extradition pact with the United States. Nayeri was detained as soon as he got off the plane in Prague in November 2013.
He spent over a year there, in what he termed a “real dungeon,” waiting to be deported to the United States.
When Nayeri was extradited to the United States in 2014 to face charges in the 2012 kidnapping and torture case, he was imprisoned in the Orange County Central Men’s Jail in California.
However, he and two other convicts were able to escape in January 2016. After their escape, Nayeri and the other two guys reportedly abducted a cab driver and drove north in his car.
Finally, Eight days later, police discovered and arrested Nayeri and one of the other detainees in San Francisco.
Nayeri went to trial in 2020 on counts of kidnapping, torture, and aggravated mayhem in connection with the events of 2012. Nayeri testified in his own defense.
Nayeri stated that, while he had spent months surveilling Michael before the kidnapping, it was the extent of his participation. He, however, has consistently denied any involvement in the kidnapping or the physical violence perpetrated on Michael.
The jury finally convicted Nayeri guilty of kidnapping and torture in August 2019. But could not agree on whether he had committed aggravated mayhem, the allegation linked to the victim’s maiming.
At last, he was condemned to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of release for the heinous kidnapping and torture.
Final Defendant And Associate Of Hossein Nayeri Pleads Guilty
The final defendant in the kidnapping and torture of a marijuana shop owner in Newport Beach pled guilty to a misdemeanor.
Noami Josette Rhodus, 41, pled guilty to being an accessory after the fact and was sentenced to three years’ probation. She received credit for a year and two weeks in jail.
As part of the plea agreement, felony charges of kidnapping for ransom or extortion to conduct a sex crime, aggravated mayhem, torture, and burglary, as well as a sentence enhancement for inflicting serious bodily harm on a victim, were all dropped.
Ryan Anthony Kevorkian, another co-defendant, pled guilty to two charges of abduction and single counts of burglary and assault with a pistol in May of last year. He was sentenced to 12 years and eight months in prison.
Similarly, Kyle Handley, 42, a co-defendant, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of release in July 2018.
The case and the details will be soon updated in Wikipedia.
