4 charged with severing pot clinic owner’s penis
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.—Four people are accused of torturing a California marijuana dispensary owner with a blowtorch and cutting off his penis in an attempt to force him to reveal where he had buried piles of cash in the desert.
The defendants mistakenly believed the victim was hiding money and left him for dead on the side of the road, Orange County authorities said in announcing the case Friday.
The four have been charged with kidnapping for ransom, aggravated mayhem, torture, burglary and a sentencing enhancement for inflicting great bodily injury. They were being held without bail and could face up to life in prison without possibility of parole if convicted.
Four weeks before the kidnapping, the would-be robbers 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 thought 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.
At the spot where the men believed the victim had hidden his money, they cut off his penis, poured bleach on him in an effort to destroy any DNA evidence and dumped him and the woman on the side of the road, authorities alleged.
The three men then drove away with the penis so that it couldn’t be reattached, authorities claimed.
“The woman ran over a mile to a main road in the dark, while still bound with zip ties, and flagged down a police car,” according to the statement.
The man survived his injuries.